According to BNAmericas, Australian-listed Meteoric Resources has announced the start-up of a rare earth pilot plant at its Caldeira rare earth project in Brazil, following an investment of approximately US$300 million.
Meteoric Resources owns the Caldeira rare earth deposit, located in the state of Minas Gerais. The pilot facility integrates the company’s existing processing flowsheet and is capable of extracting minerals from ionic clay to produce mixed rare earth carbonate, with a processing capacity of 25 kilograms per hour.
“The Caldeira project is entering a new phase,” said Managing Director Stuart Gale in a statement. He noted that the pilot plant will generate real operating data to support the project’s definitive feasibility study, provide reference material for future commercial partners, and validate downstream separation processes within Brazil.
The company emphasized that data generated from the pilot plant will play a critical role in the final feasibility study, which will determine whether to proceed with the construction of a full-scale commercial operation.
In the coming days, another key milestone for the project will be the evaluation of the environmental licensing process by the environmental regulatory authority of Minas Gerais state.
[出处 – 上海有色网] 流星资源公司巴西稀土试验厂开工 https://news.smm.cn/news/103679078
