Makuutu Rare Earths Project moves a step closer to becoming Uganda\u2019s flagship mine<\/a> and will provide GDP growth and opportunities to the Ugandan Government aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP-III). The social development programmes and environmental benefits have already positively impacted local communities at the Project level.<\/p>\nWhen asked to comment on the significance of Project DFS, which crystalises a path to production, financial viability and net-zero carbon thinking, IonicRE Managing Director Tim Harrison stated:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outcome of this study, which focuses solely on the central Makuutu zone, provides the required inputs for the Company to finalise the Mining Licence Application for RL 1693. These Stage 1 results support what we think is a unique, geopolitically strategic asset to supply magnet and heavy rare earths into western supply chains. Evidence currently shows that countries are motivated to secure sustainable, traceable supplies of these critical raw materials to support their domestic manufacturing ambitions and to support both the energy transition and military and defence requirements to provide sovereign capability and global security.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, this Stage 1 study provides a path to production at Makuutu, which has the potential for significant growth into the future through the conversion of the other tenements at Makuutu towards additional MLAs over the coming decade. The intent is to significantly increase production from the Stage 1 initial focus at Makuutu and expand into the forecast increase in demand that will far exceed supply for the most readily sought-after rare earths, Dysprosium and Terbium, which are critical for the production of the magnets required to drive EV\u2019s, offshore wind turbines and support several specialised defence applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMakuutu is now advancing towards a Final Investment Decision with the capability to provide more heavy rare earths per annum from our initial Stage 1 Project than existing western light rare earth hard rock mines in production today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next commercialisation phase for IonicRE is the mining and recycling assets which are now heavily focused on validating and scaling up with the construction of two demonstration plants. One is located in Uganda at the Makuutu Project, and the other at the Company\u2019s 100% owned subsidiary, IonicTech, which is developing a magnet rare earths recycling facility in Belfast, UK, via a patented hydrometallurgical process.<\/p>\n
IonicTech is establishing a circular economy of magnet and heavy rare earths<\/h3>\n IonicTech has developed rare earth element separation and refining technology and applied this to the recycling and refining of individual magnet rare earths from spent permanent magnets and swarf (waste products).<\/p>\n
The Company has established a new facility in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, equipped with analytical and hydrometallurgical laboratories, plus piloting and demonstration plant bays to progress the scale-up verification of the technology.<\/p>\n
To date, IonicTech has further validated the improvements incorporated in the technology and process since the acquisition in April 2022, demonstrating hydrometallurgical extraction from Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) swarf (see Fig. 3, left), supplied by a UK metal and alloy manufacturer, treating a sample rich in magnet rare earths Nd and Dy. The pilot campaign successfully processed the swarf into a number of intermediary REE products (refer Fig. 3, right) prior to the separation and production of approximately 5kg of refined high-purity rare earth oxides, Nd2O3 and Dy2O3 (see Fig. 4). Internal and external analysis of the products confirms they are consistent with separated REO products produced and sourced from existing Chinese producers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nFig. 3: Swarf feedstock on the left, sourced from NdFeB metal alloy production, rich in Nd and Dy only, prior to production of intermediate products on the right \u2013 mixed Nd\/Dy oxide (brown) and mixed Nd\/Dy oxalate (pink)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe demonstration-scale plant will hydrometallurgically extract individual high-purity magnet rare earth oxides from recycling, processing 30 tonnes per annum of waste magnets and swarf to produce over ten tonnes of separated and refined magnet REOs \u2013 Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nFig. 4: High-purity separated oxides, showing Neodymium (Nd2O3) (left) and Dysprosium (Dy2O3) (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRefinery Study \u2013 adding value through the downstream supply chain<\/h3>\n Since mid-2021, IonicRE has completed extensive metallurgical test work and process modelling to define a process flowsheet capable of separating the Makuutu basket into the full spectrum of rare earth oxides, plus scandium. Engineering activity is now in its final stages.<\/p>\n
The Company is also heavily engaged with potential partners, with the progression of the downstream refinery study expected to be finalised in Q2 2023. For the purpose of the study, a US site has been selected to separate the mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) product from Makuutu into separated and refined REOs. Western governments are all interested in accessing sustainable and traceable supply of magnet and heavy rare earths into new emerging supply chains to address concerns around sovereign capability and global security.<\/p>\n
Global demand for the Makuutu basket of magnet and heavy rare earths<\/h3>\n We now have the two biggest and most advanced economies in the world moving in the same direction \u2013 the EU with the European Green Deal and recently announced Critical Raw Materials Act, and the US with the Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n
The Project is strategically important for western end users, with no current sources of heavy rare earths in production at present and all supplies emanating from China or Myanmar. This is unpalatable for several western governments, with numerous key military applications dependent upon the technologies derived from heavy rare earths \u2013 the fact that this material is also sourced from China further escalates anxiety in the supply chains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Discover how Ionic Rare Earths is making strides in securing a sustainable magnet and heavy rare earths supply chain for Western customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":32166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24502],"tags":[24248,24308],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Boosting the heavy rare earths supply chain in the West<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n