Critica (ASX: CRI) has delivered an 830% increase in grades in initial metallurgical testing of samples from its flagship Jupiter project in Western Australia.
Beneficiation work on a 51-kilogram composite sample of typical mineralisation grading 1,430 parts per million total rare earth oxides produced a new grade of 13,310ppm, representing an upgrade factor of over 9.3x.
Vietnam-based GAVAQ Solution conducted the work, which confirms the potential to produce high-grade concentrate through a simple flotation process at room temperature.
Managing director Philippa Leggat said the impressive recoveries at the clay-hosted rare earth element (REE) discovery had significantly exceeded the company’s expectations.
“This initial test work was deliberately focused on the ability to upgrade our already impressive in situ rare earths head grade to a first-pass beneficiated concentrate,” she said.
“These early results have delivered a near tenfold increase in grade through a simple flotation process at ambient temperature and – when combined with unoptimised first-pass rare earth recoveries of over 50% – have hugely exceeded our initial beneficiation ambitions.”
Ms Leggat said the company had designed its ongoing test work program to construct a technically robust and economically efficient process pathway for the large-scale commercial and strategic REE opportunity at Jupiter.
The company has engaged a number of independent Australian and international laboratories to test a range of techniques to remove non-mineralised material and concentrate rare earth mineralisation.
Among them was GAVAQ, which specifically targeted gangue removal and flotation.
Jupiter is a high-grade, clay-hosted rare earth deposit that is part of the broader Brothers project discovered in late 2023.
It is strategically located within WA’s Mt Magnet and Yalgoo mining precinct on 40 square kilometres of flat, sparsely vegetated acreage that facilitates year-round access.
Critica originally identified Jupiter using geophysics and the company completed more 38,000m of cost-effective aircore drilling in less than 18 months.
In late 2024, Critica announced the discovery of five satellite targets at Brothers, indicating the provincial-scale nature of the project.
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