Metallurgical Testwork Delivers Premium Phosphate Concentrate From Cummins Range

RareX Limited (RareX, the Company) (ASX: REE) is pleased to report positive outcomes from a testwork program conducted on samples from its 100%-owned Cummins Range Rare Earths Project (the Project, Cummins Range), located in the Kimberley region of WA.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Preliminary metallurgical testwork exceeds expectations for the production of a phosphate mineral concentrate as a potential co-product from Cummins Range.
  
• Outstanding results achieved, with greater than 39% P₂O₅ phosphate mineral concentrates produced with excellent recovery.
• Conventional phosphate flotation circuits tested, supporting a simple and proven beneficiation flowsheet for phosphate mineral recovery.
• Conventional phosphate flotation circuits tested, supporting a simple and proven beneficiation flowsheet for phosphate mineral recovery.

The testwork was led by RareX with support from other consultancies, with results confirming the potential to produce a premium-grade phosphate concentrate of >39% P2O5 (well above the benchmark grade of 32% P2O5 used in phosphate fertiliser production) using a simple, proven beneficiation technique.

RareX Managing Director, Jeremy Robinson, said: “This testwork supports the opportunity to produce a premium and highly-valuable phosphate co-product at Cummins Range as part of our rare earths business, with the potential to help drive very low cash operating costs as demonstrated in the recently released Scoping Study.”

INTRODUCTION

The Cummins Range Rare Earths Project is a globally significant rare earths project located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia near the township of Halls Creek. The Project has a JORC Indicated and Inferred 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (cut-off grade 0.5% TREO) containing 18.8 million tonnes of 1.15% TREO and 10% P2O5 with a high neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) to TREO ratio of 20%1.

The primary rare earth mineral is monazite hosted in the weathered portion of the underlying carbonatite intrusion with the deposit outcropping in multiple locations. Recent exploration activities have discovered high-grade phosphate mineralisation in the northern zone.

Phosphate minerals (primarily apatite) have been identified in both the rare earth zone and phosphate zone within the Cummins Range deposit. The phosphate material is found to be hosted in carbonatite and is believed to be premium grade compared to typical sedimentary deposits, offering outstanding potential to produce a phosphate mineral concentrate of >31% P2O5 with simple beneficiation. Phosphate concentrate is a key input for phosphorus fertiliser production and has the potential to significantly enhance the overall project economics as a valuable co-product.

PHOSPHATE SIGHTER FLOAT PROGRAM

To investigate the potential of phosphate minerals recovery, a sighter flotation program was undertaken at Auralia Metallurgy in Perth.

The primary goal of this metallurgical testing program was to demonstrate that a high grade, commercially viable phosphate mineral concentrate could be produced using a simple flotation process.

Flotation Results

The sighter testwork program was centred on the production of a phosphate mineral concentrate, with testwork undertaken on two composite samples collected from the Cummins Range Project, namely:

1.CDX0015 Phosphate Zone Fresh Composite
2.CDX0015 Phosphate Zone Regolith Composite

Both composite samples were subjected to a flotation test with the same circuit configuration, i.e., 3-stage rougher flotation followed by 2-stage cleaner flotation. A summary of the flotation testwork results are shown in Table 2.

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