Victory Metals Limited (VTYMF) Breakthrough Heavy Rare Earth Recovery Pathway to Production
Victory Metals Limited (ASX:VTM) (OTCMKTS:VTYMF) announced exceptional metallurgical leaching test results from its flotation concentrate at the 100%-owned North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Project in Western Australia.
The test work was conducted on concentrate produced from the Company's recent flotation program, which achieved a 48X upgrade to 5.9% TREO while rejecting approximately 95% of the feed mass into tailings. The subsequent leaching of this concentrate has delivered >70% extraction of the critical heavy rare earths Dysprosium, Terbium and Yttrium in standard agitated leach tank conditions.
These results represent a significant technical and economic breakthrough.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Outstanding leaching results from North Stanmore flotation concentrate delivering high-value Heavy Rare Earth Elements 70.9% Dysprosium (Dy), 70.2% Terbium (Tb) and 75.1% Yttrium (Y)
- Results achieved using low acid consumption and standard agitated leach tank conditions at atmospheric pressure.
- This process sets Victory apart from peers that have reported flotation results and require high-temperature acid cracking (~400-500degC) with very high sulphuric acid consumption (~1,500 kg/t of concentrate)
- The results were obtained without the traditional acid-cracking process, avoiding an estimated ~$1 billion in associated capital expenditure based on recent peers CAPEX requirements.
- Victory plans on selling its heavy rare earth concentrate into the Global market resulting in:
o Faster & simpler path to market
o Low CAPEX & OPEX
o Unique Heavy Rare Earth Enriched Concentrate with negligible amounts of deleterious elements
- Combined with recent flotation work (48X TREO upgrade to 5.9% TREO with ~95% mass rejection), the flowsheet enables small scale, low capex hydrometallurgical circuits that Victory proposes will be operated by third party off takers
Victory Metals Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Brendan Clark commented: "These outstanding test results highlight that the concentrate at North Stanmore is truly something special. There is nothing like it in the western world, and we expect high demand as a result. The fact we can separate out the valuable elements without high temperatures and high acid consumption puts us at a significant advantage to peers. Our product can be shipped as general cargo with significant ratios of the rare earths that matter and that the Western world needs: Dysprosium, Terbium and Yttrium."
Yttrium is now being reported with sales in North America surpassing $1,000 US per kg and, with Victory containing over 23% Yttrium in our concentrate and the Yttrium market being totally controlled by China, this positions Victory as a future leader of the heavy rare earth sector.
Being able to achieve this at low cost and without the expenditure on billion-dollar plants that peers need to process their concentrates sets Victory apart from our peers.
Our plan is to develop a simple, low-cost flotation circuit and sell our concentrate directly to Western markets. This is a proven yet simple, low cost and fast path to market.
Further optimisation, variability test work and detailed flowsheet development are underway and will be reported as results become available."
Victory has successfully completed a definitive 8-hour leaching test on the high-grade flotation concentrate (~5.9% TREO) generated from North Stanmore ore (see ASX announcement 03 MAR 26). To ensure commercial scalability and minimize technical risk, the leaching was conducted at ALS Metallurgy (Balcatta, WA) using simulated standard hydrometallurgical agitated tanks.
The use of agitated tank leaching-rather than high-pressure autoclaves or complex acid-cracking kilns-demonstrates a highly conventional and de-risked flowsheet. The process utilized low-concentration HCl (<6% HCl solution) at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 90degC, achieving high extractions. This confirms that North Stanmore can move toward production using off-the-shelf processing technology.
Key Results: Exceptional HRE Extraction
The leaching test confirmed that the secondary phosphate minerals (rhabdophane and churchite) concentrated during flotation are highly amenable to mild acid leaching. Key results (see Figure 1 and Table 1*) show excellent selective extraction, with significantly higher recoveries of high-value heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) and relatively lower recoveries of light rare earth elements (LREEs).
- Exceptional extraction rates: Extraction rates are consistent with previous whole-of-ore testing but now applied to a significantly smaller volume of material (flotation concentrate).
- High Selectivity: This selective metallurgy is a major positive for Victory. Potential off-take partners have specifically requested minimal light rare earth content.
The strong extraction of heavy rare earths, coupled with lower light rare earth recoveries, is highly advantageous as LREEs are abundant in global supply chains and are of lower value.
- Low Impurity Profile: The flotation concentrate contains only 274 ppm Thorium and 70 ppm Uranium, well below the thresholds for hazardous radioactive classification. This supports the Company's strategy to ship concentrate as General Cargo.
Brendan Clark CEO and Executive Director admin@victorymetalsaustralia.com Jim Carden Investor and Media Relations jimc@bastionagency.com
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