Meteoric claims highest globally reported ionic adsorption clay recoveries

• Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI) announces it has inked the world-first high-grade rare earth recovery results from metallurgical testing
• The news in tandem with the shallow depths from which the ore was pulled has seen Meteoric jump 16 per cent and defy another red day for the ASX
• The company’s Caldeira project is based in Brazil and testwork was conducted by ANSTO
• Results were taken from ore located below the boundaries of an existing inferred resource
• Shares are up 16 per cent, trading at 27.3 cents at 11:48 am AEST

Brazil-based rare earths explorer and developer Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI), has reported globally record-breaking metallurgical test results from its on-site ore.

Utilising an industry-standard ammonium sulphate wash, the company successfully extracted high grades of high-value magnet rare earths, dysprosium, and terbium, achieving yields that have never been matched by another publicly listed company.

The ore was sourced from the Caldeira project, with the headline metallurgical results showcasing magnet rare earth leach extractions at grades of 88 per cent over 9.4 metres, starting from a depth of 2.6 metres, including outstanding values of 92 per cent neodymium and 86 per cent praseodymium.

Shareholder interest in these high recovery rates was evident as shares surged by 10 per cent within the first hour of trading. It’s also noteworthy that these exceptional results were obtained from clay-hosted ore samples extracted from a depth of only two metres.

Management hailed these results as “truly world-class.”

“Importantly, this is the first phase of our metallurgical program and these exceptional results will now be optimised to quantify the reagent concentrations and leach kinetics and potentially further increase the recoveries,” Meteoric CEO Nick Holthouse said.

“Caldeira project’s exceptional rare earth grades and significant mineralised thicknesses coupled with these best-in-class recoveries bode extremely well for further optimisation of MEI’s proposed high-grade feed scenario that will be laser-focused to deliver early project value.”

Furthermore, Mr Holthouse noted that the leach extraction work was conducted on ore extracted from below the current boundaries of the company’s existing inferred on-site REE resource.

Geotechnical experts pointed out that at a depth of two metres, drills encountered a cerium-enriched zone, while at deeper levels, rare earth mineralisation is present and has adsorbed onto kaolinite clays.

MEI shares were up 16 per cent, trading at 27.3 cents at 11:48 am AEST.