PERTH (miningweekly.com) – An enhanced scoping study for the Cummins Range rare earths project, in Western Australia, has identified a direct shipping ore (DSO) phosphate project as a potential Stage 1 operation.

ASX-listed RareX on Tuesday reported that the enhanced scoping study built on the 2022 scoping study, which estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$430-million, and could produce 8 900 t/y of mixed rare earths carbonate, 128 800 t/y of phosphate concentrate and 13 500 t/y of phosphoric acid.

Instead, the enhanced scoping study proposed a three-stage development approach for Cummins Range, with the Stage 1 DSO operation expected to have a capital cost of A$45-million, and to produce 300 000 t/y of phosphate over a three-year period.

The Stage 2 project would entail the installation of a mid-sized beneficiation plant at a cost of A$304-million, to produce 550 000 t/y of phosphate/rare earth minerals concentrate from the weathered resource.

Stage 3 would require a further investment of A$63-million to upgrade the Stage 2 plant in year 13 of operations, to produce a concentrate from unweathered, fresh rock below 130 m. RareX said on Tuesday that Stage 3 should see further improvement and optionality in post-beneficiation upgrades owing to mineralogy factors.

A mine closure cost of A$41-million has been allocated at the end of Stage 3.

The Stage 2 operation is expected to have a post-tax net present value of A$333-million and an internal rate of return of 27%.

“The scoping study results have exceeded our expectations and validate the evolved project development pathway presented in April. The results show a practical approach to allow the economic extraction of rare earth elements in conjunction with valuable phosphate fertiliser or battery feedstock,” said RareX CEO James Durrant.

“The products have high value-in-use potential and we’re working to find the right buyers for Stage 1 and Stage 2, across Australia and South East Asia, having recently appointed two offtake consultants,” he added.

“The low upfront capital and simple Stage 1 make this fundable and deliverable by RareX, and we’ve materially progressed the pre-requisites for regulatory approval for Stage 1, giving us the best chance of becoming an operator in the next couple of years. Excitingly, our geologists are also extending target generation on site to a similar anomaly to Cummins Range so we look forward to seeing how that might integrate with our development plans.

“With all these positive attributes and the ability to deliver this project with our team, we are excited for the future of the company. Our priorities for the next six to nine months are to identify strategic offtake partners, advance Stage 1 to definitive feasibility study and Stage 2 to prefeasibility study, and complete submissions for mining approvals.”