Victory Metals has received initial leach results from metallurgical test work on six representative samples from its North Stanmore Rare Earth Elements (REE) Project located near Cue, Western Australia, revealing valuable deposits of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE).
The metallurgical recoveries reported up to 63.6 per cent lutetium, 60 per cent dysprosium and 58 per cent terbium. There is potential to increase these recoveries with further metallurgical testing and possibly upgrading ore material prior to leaching.
Metal recoveries indicate a significant proportion of REE are ionically adsorbed onto clays, confirming North Stanmore as a deep “fossil” ionically adsorption clay mineral system that preserves an enrichment profile in the regolith.
Dysprosium and terbium have a combined value of approximately USD$1,070 per kg (REO), compared to critical Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE) praseodymium and neodymium having a combined value of approximately USD$113 per kg.
HREE are considerably more valuable than the LREE, with LREE-enriched systems being typically dominated by lanthanum and cerium which have a low combined value of approximately USD$3.34 per kg.
Victory’s recovery metallurgy utilises far more economical recovery techniques compared to environmentally challenging and expensive methods that use hydrochloric acid (HCl). High recoveries were achieved by leaching using low-cost combined ammonia sulphate (NH⁴)²SO⁴ and weak sulphuric acid (H²SO⁴) at 50°C with low leach times.
Victory’s North Stanmore REE Project details include:
- Excellent grades of REE with an average assay grade of 1010ppm
- High recoveries of critical and valuable HREE, including dysprosium and terbium
- Low acid consumption usage from initial metallurgical test work
- Non-aggressive recovery method
- Minimal recovery levels of gangue material e.g. aluminium and iron
- Low levels of radioactive elements uranium and thorium
- Scandium and potential alluvial gold credits
- Shallow deposit with potentially low mining costs
- Solid geopolitical stability
- Project location advantages
Victory Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Brendan Clark, said, “This is an instrumental moment for Victory and provides confirmation that the company’s North Stanmore Rare Earth discovery has significantly recovered Rare Earth Elements and, more importantly, high levels of recoverable dysprosium and terbium.
“Rare Earth Element projects across Australia and the world are diverse, with emerging opportunities in an ever-changing market.
“It is important for the market to fully understand the Rare Earth Element sector and that’s why Victory’s technical team ensures that complete REE assay data is reported to facilitate analysts and investors in making informed investment decisions.
“It is also crucial to understand that not all REE’s are ‘rare’, like lanthanum and cerium which have a low current combined value.”
“REE recoveries can be complex and once the metals are recovered gangue materials like Iron (Fe) and Aluminium (Al) are also recovered in the process and can be costly to remove and in some cases make projects uneconomic. Victory is delighted to confirm that its initial metallurgical recoveries confirm low ratios of these gangue metals,” Mr Clark said.
“It is also important to understand that extended leaching times results in larger processing plants to achieve the same result as the recovery process requires less leaching time.”
