Critica eyes gallium, scandium bonus at WA rare earths giant

Critica Limited has delivered a set of impressive metallurgical results for two key critical minerals, gallium and scandium, from its 100 per cent-owned Jupiter rare earth elements project in Western Australia’s Mid West region.

The company says recent testwork achieved gallium extraction of up to 91.9 per cent and scandium extraction of up to 84.7 per cent. The results show both metals can be leached into a pregnant solution alongside the primary rare earths, potentially adding significant by-product value to a project whose recent scoping study has already shown a hefty after-tax net present value of $2 billion. Notably, the base case for that study attributed zero value to either gallium or scandium.

The gallium extraction rate is a material improvement on the previously reported extraction figure of 63 per cent. Five of the seven gallium tests achieved better than 84 per cent extraction, while four of the same seven samples yielded scandium extraction above 80 per cent.

The company emphasises that these results represent the proportion of metal transferred into solution during the leaching process and do not yet represent final product recoveries. However, preliminary resin adsorption testwork has already shown the co-loading of gallium, scandium and rare earths onto the resin, representing a positive first step in developing a practicable separation route.

‘Our focus now is on downstream testwork to better understand resin loading, selectivity and separation.’

Critica Limited chief executive officer Jacob Deysel

The existing mineral resource at Jupiter contains a substantial endowment of both metals. Critica’s 160 million tonne indicated resource hosts an estimated 6400 tonnes of gallium oxide and 7200 tonnes of scandium oxide. The company’s much bigger 1.5 billion tonne inferred resource contains an estimated 60,000 tonnes of gallium oxide and 54,000 tonnes of scandium oxide.

Critica’s metallurgical studies come at a time of heightened strategic focus on both metals. Gallium and scandium are now considered strategic supply-chain issues for the modern West, not just speciality metals. China accounts for almost all of global primary low-purity gallium production and its recent export restrictions have sent shivers through semiconductor, defence and advanced manufacturing supply chains.

In response, the Australian Federal Government has explicitly prioritised both gallium and scandium as critical minerals, identifying them as being exposed to potential supply disruption. Canberra’s $1.2 billion Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve is initially focused on antimony, gallium and rare earths.

Critica Limited chief executive officer Jacob Deysel said: “These results represent an important step in assessing the potential for additional value from Jupiter. Importantly, gallium and scandium are being extracted into solution alongside the rare earth elements, providing a basis for further investigation of two strategically important critical minerals used across advanced technologies, energy and defence.”

The metallurgical samples came from drill sample composites, representing the typical iron-clay mineralisation type at the Jupiter deposit. The extraction process involved acid baking and subsequent water leaching to extract the metals into a solution of mixed gallium, scandium and rare earths oxides.

With the three metals now successfully leached from the feedstock, extracted into the pregnant leach solution and showing an affinity for resin adsorption, Critica’s focus will shift towards the downstream process. Further testwork will assess resin selectivity, elution, separation and purification, all aimed at developing distinct recovery routes, before integrating the new results into the overall Jupiter flowsheet.

The potential for by-product credits from two highly strategic metals currently not included in the project’s current economic analysis is a tantalising prospect. As Western governments look to shore up their supply chains and reduce reliance on single-source producers, projects such as Jupiter could find themselves in a very enviable position.

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