Sunrise Energy Metals is developing the Syerston scandium project in Australia, considered to be one of the highest-grade scandium deposits in the world.
A feasibility study for the project was completed in August 2016, and the company released an updated feasibility study in March 2026.
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The 2026 feasibility study outlines a 32-year life of mine and development capital of $120m to produce 60 tonnes per annum (tpa) of 99.9% scandium oxide.
A final investment decision is anticipated in the second quarter of 2026, with site works expected to begin in the second half of 2026 (H2 2026).
Commissioning of the Syerston scandium project is targeted for H1 2028.
Syerston scandium project location
The Syerston scandium project is located near Fifield in central-west New South Wales and sits within Mining Lease ML1770, which is wholly owned by the company.
Sunrise also holds freehold land around the project area, has secured water rights, and has compensation agreements covering State Forest and Crown Land within the lease area.
Mineralisation and reserves
Scandium mineralisation occurs within a lateritic soil profile formed through weathering and seasonal water table movement over the Tout Ultramafic Complex, which comprises a central dunite core with more mafic outer units, including pyroxenite.
As of September 2025, proven and probable mineral reserves at the project were estimated at 2.03 million tonnes (mt) grading 644 parts per million of scandium, containing 1,311t of scandium.
Mining and processing
The Syerston scandium project is due to be developed as a conventional open-pit operation using backhoe excavators and haul trucks in a shallow deposit around 35m (114.82ft)–40m deep. Mining operations are set to be carried out on 2m benches.
The current plan for the rare earth mining venture involves 21 years of mining followed by a further 11 years of processing from stockpiles.
The processing plant at the mine is designed to process around 64,000tpa of ore with a construction and commissioning period of roughly 24 months.
Processing is based on hydrometallurgical leaching and downstream refining to produce high-purity scandium oxide.
The run-of-mine ore will undergo screening to separate medium and highly silicified goethite material to reduce silica reporting to the autoclave and improve feed grade.
The flowsheet includes comminution with limited beneficiation, high-pressure acid leaching to generate a scandium-rich solution, recovery using continuous resin-in-pulp (cRIP) ion exchange and elution to extract metal from the solution.
The scandium will be purified through multi-stage precipitation and calcination to obtain a scandium oxide product. Leach residues are due to be neutralised with limestone, thickened and sent to a tailings storage facility.
Sunrise is also assessing a potential expansion through a second processing train that could add around 120tpa of additional capacity.
Infrastructure details
The project benefits from strong road connectivity, supporting freight movements and providing access to nearby communities for workforce accommodation. All bulk materials and reagents will be transported to the site by road, with the primary haulage corridors already identified.
Sunrise holds a water licence permitting the extraction of up to 3.2 gigalitres per annum from a borefield situated approximately 65km south of the project. A dedicated pipeline will be installed to deliver water to the site. Surface water harvesting at the mine and processing facility will also be undertaken.
The mine will initially use generators to supply power to the project. The company has also applied for an electrical connection for the project and is assessing the development of a solar farm and battery energy storage system (BESS) to supply green electricity to the project.
Offtake agreements
In October 2025, Sunrise signed a non-binding arrangement with Lockheed Martin providing an option to purchase the first 15tpa of scandium oxide produced in each of the first five years, totalling up to 75t, subject to the signing of a final binding offtake agreement.
Project financing
Sunrise secured commitments in November 2025 to raise A$45.6m ($30m) via a conditional placement of 10.7 million shares at $4.25 each in two tranches. It also announced further commitments in December 2025 to raise A$18.8m through a conditional placement of 3,850,000 shares at $4.9 each.
Proceeds are intended to support site activities including engineering, water and power connections, infill drilling and early contracting for long-lead items.
Sunrise has also received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to provide potential debt financing of up to $67m for the project.
Contractors involved
The March 2026 feasibility study was completed by GR Engineering Services.
Mining One prepared the ore reserve estimate and mine design for the updated feasibility study.
Clean TeQ Water was contracted in January 2026 to update selected engineering elements, including refinements to the cRIP circuit using a moving bed ion exchange approach and changes to the refinery design, with delivery targeted for May 2026.
