Comet Resources
Ionic Rare Earths
Comet Resources recently received results from ongoing test work on natural flake graphite from the company’s Springdale graphite project in Western Australia. Comet Resources reported that both excellent grade and recoveries were achieved from initial tests, leading to commencement of work to produce a bulk sample for further testing. The company explained that graphite concentrates previously produced had demonstrated a unique and potentially valuable characteristic in its small size distribution, with two-thirds of the product passing the 38-micron size fraction screen. Generally, this small size fraction of graphite is a by-product of processing of larger flake fractions, which produces smaller size graphite, but in doing so also damages the smaller flake material in the process, reducing their performance and value. Deposits, like Springdale could potentially be, that contain high quality ultra-fine graphite suitable for battery anode production for the expanding electric vehicles battery anode market that achieves premium pricing in graphite markets, making it a highly sought-after product. Once a bulk sample of Springdale graphite concentrate is produced it will be forwarded to a specialist lab in Germany where it will be assessed for, among other properties, the performance of the graphite during purification, micronisation and spheronisation. “The results of this ongoing test work will determine the suitability of the natural flake graphite from Springdale for use in the manufacture of battery anodes for electric vehicles,” Comet Resources managing director Matthew O’Kane said. “Earlier tests have demonstrated the graphite from Springdale is quite a rare product due to its very small flake size, which could make it ideally suited for anode production. “This next stage of specialised testing will hopefully confirm this.”
Ionic Rare Earths recently inked a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aluminium Corporation of China subsidiary, China Rare Metals and Rare Earth (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd (CHINALCO) in relation to the development of the company’s Makuutu rare earths project in Uganda. “We are very pleased to have signed this MOU which, further endorses the quality of the project and its strategic importance and will now enable the Makuutu rare earths project to rapidly advance activities in the near term,” IonicRE managing director Tim Harrison said. “We welcome the involvement of CHINALCO and their ionic clay and rare earths separation arm China Rare Earths Jiangsu. “Their knowledge on ionic adsorption clays is second to none, and their involvement would also greatly enhance and accelerate the planned development of Makuutu.” The signing of the MoU followed news of a substantial 210 per cent increase to the Mineral Resource Estimate at the Makuutu project that is now estimated at 315 million tonnes at 650 parts per million Total Rare Earth Oxide with a cut-off grade of 200ppm TREO minus cerium dioxide. Heavy Rare Earth Oxides (26%) and Critical Rare Earth Oxides (35%) account for a substantial component of the Resource mineralisation. The updated MRE places Makuutu amongst the world’s largest ionic adsorption clay (IAC) deposits, and as such, a globally strategic resource for low-cost, high-margin and long-term security of critical and heavy rare earth supply. “The magnitude of this Mineral Resource will provide a platform for the company to now look to finalise the Makuutu Scoping Study, which will reflect the significant nature of the resource, underpinning what we anticipate will be a long-term, low-capital and high-margin critical and heavy rare earth producing asset,” Harrison said.
(ASX: CRL)
EMAIL comet@cometres.com.au WEB www.cometres.com.au DIRECTORS Matthew O’Kane, Hamish Halliday, Alex Molyneux, David Prentice
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(ASX: IXR)
EMAIL admin@ionicre.com.au WEB www.ionicre.com.au DIRECTORS Trevor Benson, Tim Harrison, Bradley Marwood