IMC reports 73% rare earth recovery for Itarantim project

IMC Rare Earths announced metallurgical test results from the University of Brighton showing that 73% of total rare earth elements, excluding cerium, were recovered from its Itarantim Project in Brazil. The laboratory testing used acidified magnesium sulphate, outperforming ammonium sulphate, which achieved 70% recovery under equivalent conditions.

The tests recovered 71.4% of terbium and 70.5% of dysprosium, two key magnet rare earths. Initial column leaching produced solutions containing 4,000 to 8,000 mg/L of total rare earths, while uranium and thorium levels stayed below detection limits. Downstream processing recovered up to 86.6% of rare earths from solution into a mixed carbonate, which was refined into a mixed oxide containing approximately 41% total rare earths.

These findings support the evaluation of in-situ recovery, a method that extracts minerals through injection and recovery wells instead of open-pit mining. The approach could reduce excavation, material haulage, capital requirements, and tailings storage across the project, which hosts an inferred mineral resource of approximately 1.1 billion tonnes containing neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.

Next steps for the company include hydrogeological field testing, pilot injection testing, recovery optimization, and engineering studies across the deposit, which spans the Brazilian states of Bahia and Minas Gerais.