Critica Advances Jupiter REE Project With Hanoi Pilot Plant for Concentrate Beneficiation

Critica (ASX: CRI) has approved the development of a pilot-scale beneficiation plant in Hanoi to generate a high-grade rare earth concentrate from its Jupiter project in Western Australia.

The facility will process a 3,000kg bulk sample using magnetic separation and flotation to replicate earlier bench-scale results that delivered ~95% mass rejection and an eight-fold grade uplift.

Run by the Centre for Science and Technology of Mineral and Environment, the program will seek to prove Critica’s upgrade-first flowsheet at scale by showing that, through the upfront removal of most of the non-valuable material, the company can reduce leach plant size, cut reagent use and lower overall costs.

‘Scale, Simplicity, Speed’ Strategy

Chief executive officer Jacob Deysel said the approach embodied Critica’s “Scale, Simplicity, Speed” roadmap by producing cleaner concentrate and enabling faster progress toward a Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) product.

The Hanoi plant will deliver concentrate for downstream test work and provide decision-grade data for the upcoming Scoping Study, as well as provide key information on tailings, recoveries and operability to help Critica refine the process ahead of feasibility studies.

With representative run-of-mine material being tested, the output will directly inform flowsheet optimisation and underpin future offtake discussions.

Earlier Hydrometallurgy Programs

Critica dispatched its first composite concentrate from Jupiter to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for leach testing last week.

After the company had upgraded it more than 800% through physical beneficiation, the concentrate assayed between 10,000 parts per million and 20,000ppm total rare earth oxides, with a strong weighting toward high-value magnet elements.

Consultants Minutech then ran complementary programs for determining the most effective chemistry for producing MREC and the optimal operating parameters for pilot-scale validation.

Mr Deysel noted that the beneficiation advantage would reduce capital intensity by limiting plant size, while the low uranium and thorium content of Jupiter material supported permitting and export options.

“The scale, upgrade potential and focus on magnet rare earths put Jupiter on a clear trajectory from resource to revenue,” he said.

Pathway From Resource to Revenue

Jupiter is already Australia’s largest and highest-grade clay-hosted magnet rare earth resource, with an inferred inventory of 640 million tonnes at 490ppm.

Geology is focusing on block modelling of the magnet rare earth zones and advancing metallurgy through beneficiation, hydrometallurgy and pilot-scale testing to feed into the Scoping Study and subsequent Pre-Feasibility and Definitive Feasibility stages.

The company is maintaining its focus on neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, which typically account for more than 85% of rare earth basket value.

With infrastructure advantages and additional targets across its tenure, Critica is positioning Jupiter as a cornerstone project in Australia’s rare earth supply chain, and believes that the integrated program now underway provides a clear line of sight to commercial production and strategic relevance in the global energy transition.