“Western Australia’s leadership in minerals research gives this state a unique opportunity to play a key role in decarbonising the critical minerals supply chain,” Western Australia’s (WA) Minister for Mines and Petroleum, David Michael, declared earlier this year. He was commenting on the news that a consortium of industry and academic stakeholders had received an A$175,000 ($113,000) grant to research the extraction and processing of rare earth elements (REEs).
The Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) is funding the project, which it hopes will unlock high-value critical rare earth resources and pave the way for advanced processing industries.
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The research will be conducted by Curtin University’s Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer, Narryer Metals, Dreadnought Resources, Terrain Minerals and Pluto Resources, headed by the project lead RSC, a resource development consultancy.
Curtin University has a long history of expertise across the mining value chain – including exploration geophysics and geology, mining, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy – placing it as one of the leaders in critical mineral processing research and development.
Associate professor Laurence Dyer says the portfolio of deposits to be studied as part of the project host low-grade, clay-hosted rare earths – but, he adds, unlike ion adsorption clays seen elsewhere, chemical extraction is not straightforward.
“The current work aims to build on the characterisation of these deposits – completed in phase one – to work towards developing an economic method of extracting the rare earths,” he explains.
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Rare earth deposits are largely found in four geological environments, according to Geoscience Australia: alkaline igneous rocks; carbonatites; placer deposits with monazite-xenotime mineralisation; and ion-adsorption clay deposits.
Australia is home a mix of REEs across “a range of geological environments”, it says. Along with southern China, Australia – and WA in particular – are considered significant regions for rare earth supply.
In April, after months of bubbling beneath the surface, geopolitical tensions were thrust into the open as the Trump administration announced its ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs plan. As many countries jostled to ingratiate themselves with the president, China charted its own path by announcing export bans on a swathe of REEs, leaving industries contemplating how they would readjust.
Australia, though, believes it has the capability, expertise and resources to become a powerful competitor to the superpower state when it comes to REEs. Those who are dubious say the country simply doesn’t have the skills, capability or capacity to do so – at least not yet.
WA ramps up its rare earth efforts
In May, news that Australian-owned rare earth miner Lynas Rare Earths had begun dysprosium oxide production at its Malaysian facility was welcomed by supporters of the country’s efforts.
The company’s CEO and managing director, Amanda Lacaze, labelled it a “significant step for supply chain resilience”, adding that it offered the option of sourcing products from a supplier outside of China. This was no doubt a statement that rang in the ears of governments and industries worldwide.
Asked how WA could be a powerful entity in supplying REEs, Dyer insists it already is.
“Lynas is the largest neodymium/praseodymium producer outside of China with its resource and a significant processing component in WA… The resources are here,” Dyer says.
There are three key drivers that position WA well when it comes to REEs, he adds.
First, the Lynas processing facility is now fully operational and able to process rare earths from Lynas’ Mt Weld mine into an intermediate mixed rare earth carbonate.
Second, although delayed, the Iluka Eneabba refinery is expected to become operational in 2027, strengthening Australia and further diluting China’s dominance.
The final positive is the recent discovery of a raft of low-grade, high-tonnage rare earth deposits across the state (at least 60 in the past two years, according to the project page).
Despite these credentials Dyer is keen to acknowledge the challenges too. “How much this [Lynas’ Malaysian facility] will be able to expand is dependent on investment and technology development… It [WA] is a very high-cost environment and downstream processing is expensive, particularly to initiate,” he explains.
Challenges of rare earth research
There are also potential hurdles for the research he and the other industry stakeholders are conducting.
One aim of the MRIWA-funded project, which Dyer acknowledges is still at “an early stage”, is to understand how rare earths appear in the deposits and what minerals they are associated with.
The project initially focuses on the mineral-rich Yilgarn region of WA. The eventual goal is to establish test facilities and develop processing and purification techniques that will set WA, and the country, on a path to be a competitor in the global supply of rare earths.
“Coupled with scoping leach work to identify appropriate systems, this knowledge will help build toward an effective treatment regime for these ores,” Dyer says. “This is not something that will happen overnight, but building a process from the bottom up to apply to these materials has the potential to unlock massive resources.”
The techniques are going to be applied to many deposits, ensuring applicability across as many of them as possible to help maximise the potential impact of success.
Sustainability, in more ways than one
Investment in technology is important given the lack of a conventional process for clay-hosted ores. This is a long process that Dyer says will increase in scale and cost as it matures.
If there is success, further investment will be another component in the region establishing itself. New technology involves risk – which has resulted in other projects running significantly over-time and over-budget, he cautions.
When announcing the news of its grant earlier this year, MRIWA asserted that the project “aligns with the Cook Government’s commitment to environmentally responsible resource development”. It said that by prioritising sustainable and innovative mining practices, WA would “remain at the forefront of the global critical minerals sector”.
One of the difficulties in harvesting materials from non-ionic clay is that significant amounts of material need to be mined in an environmentally friendly way if extraction is to be effective.
Therefore, the project will assess organic acid extraction techniques against industry-supplied representative samples in a bid to optimise rare earth recovery, while ensuring remaining products and waste are sustainable.
“The techno-economics of these methods will be checked for viability,” the project overview states. Dyer adds: “Chemicals systems, water and waste recycling and management, utilisation of as much of the mined materials as possible such that operation would have the least impact on the environment will be targeted.”
WA’s rare earth opportunity
It is hoped that the research project, set to run through 2026, will form part of WA and Australia’s strategy to become a high flyer in global rare earths supply.
“The attraction,” says Dyer, when asked what WA and Australia might offer, “is the stable, transparent operating environment… as well as the potential to develop supply chains that ease China’s dominance of the market.”
However, rare earth exploration and mining has long been criticised for its often damaging environmental impact, a point not lost on Dyer.
“As rare earths are key in modern technologies, and in particular energy generation, harsh environmental impacts from producing the elements is a self-defeating enterprise,” he warns. This is something WA is determined to get away from.
