Everest Metals Corporation ramping up activities at Mt Edon rubidium processing pilot plant

• Direct rubidium extraction metallurgical testwork completed by Edith Cowan University
• Testwork backed by financial assistance under the MRIWA METS Innovation Program and AEA Ignite funding
• DRE process optimisation and purification technology to support future pilot plant development
• Up to 90% rubidium recovery from representative Mt Edon materials

Everest Metals Corporation (ASX: EMC) is on target for the creation of a future pilot plant with the development of rubidium extraction and purification technology for its Mt Edon critical mineral project in WA.

The company has received positive results from ongoing metallurgical testwork and process optimisation undertaken by Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) Mineral Recovery Research Centre supported by the Minerals Research Institute of WA (MRIWA) METS Innovation Program.

“These results are a clear step forward. We’re recovering up to 90% of the rubidium from Mt Edon ore, our patent-pending purification process is performing consistently, and we’re now building the capability to produce our own purification material,” executive chairman and CEO, Mark Caruso, said.

“We are now moving to pilot plant development. Our focus is on turning these bench scale laboratory results into a consistent, repeatable process at larger scale. A robust, commercially viable processing pathway is the key to unlocking Mt Edon and to our strategy of establishing an Australian source of rubidium products.”

Rubidium is a high-value critical mineral primarily used in atomic clocks, physics and laser research, specialty glasses and ceramics, and medical imaging tracers.

Mr Caruso said the latest results demonstrate continued progress across key stages of the proposed processing flowsheet, including rubidium extraction, leaching efficiency, selective purification and manufacturing scale-up.

Batch roasting and leaching testwork achieved rubidium extraction efficiencies of up to 90%, while subsequent process optimisation reduced the liquid-to-solids ratio by 60% and enabled leaching at ambient temperature. These improvements increase the rubidium concentration in the resulting leachate and reduce the energy required to heat the leaching water, with the higher concentration expected to assist downstream purification.

In parallel, ECU’s MRRC has advanced a direct rubidium extraction (DRE) purification process, demonstrating repeatable separation of rubidium from potassium over at least 20 cycles. Complementary membrane technology has also demonstrated the ability to remove the desorption agent while retaining rubidium in solution, supporting the proposed integration of the two technologies.

Equipment installation and commissioning are progressing, with the objective of enabling continuous DRE medium manufacture at a multi-kilogram-per-day scale, supporting further development of the rubidium concentration and purification process.

The Mt Edon project is located five km southwest of Paynes Find in the Mid-West region of WA.

The project has an Indicated and Inferred mineral resource of 4.3 million tonnes grading 0.23% rubidium oxide (Rb2O0).

EMC was down 7.22% to 9.0¢. Mkt cap $26.16M.

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