Critica Ltd. has reported strong recovery rates at its Jupiter rare earths project in Western Australia, with ongoing optimisation work delivering an increase in rare earth recovery rates.
The company reported a total rare earth oxide (TREO) recovery of approximately 71 per cent, representing a 45 per cent improvement on previously disclosed figures.
Critica has also achieved a high-value magnet rare earth (MagREO) recovery of approximately 81 per cent, underscoring the project’s capacity to effectively capture key elements such as neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), which are critical for the production of high-performance permanent magnets.
Critica CEO Jacob Deysel said: “This phase of work demonstrates continued progress at Jupiter as we advance pilot plant optimisation and scoping study definition.
“These results provide important validation that the benefication circuit can deliver the expected TREO recoveries to an intermediate concentrate, supporting overall recovery across the flowsheet from feed through to mixed rare earth product.
“This provides increased confidence in the scalability of the process and its ability to support development assumptions for the scoping study.”
The pilot plant operations have been relocated to a larger facility in Hai Phong, Vietnam. This transition is designed to facilitate expanded throughput capacity and allows for more sophisticated cell configurations.
The company is currently managing a pipeline of approximately 8.5 tonnes of representative mineralisation, with another 10 to 20 tonnes expected to arrive in the coming weeks to support ongoing product qualification and offtake discussions.
In parallel, Critica is advancing several metallurgical test programmes in collaboration with organisations including ANSTO and AMML.
These workstreams are evaluating diverse processing pathways, such as acid bake optimisation and alternative leaching techniques, including a potential heap leaching method for intermediate concentrate.
These operational milestones keep the Jupiter scoping study on track. The next phase of activity will focus on finalising drill-hole validation and resource modelling, scaling up pilot operations, and refining the beneficiation circuit to further improve concentrate grades, all of which will inform the final inputs for the upcoming scoping study.
