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Everest Metals Corp (ASX:EMC) has submitted an international patent application for its unique direct rubidium extraction (DRE) process. The patent, now pending, is based on a development plan that will utilise pegmatite ore from the Mt Edon critical minerals project in Western Australia.
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The PCT application follows the filing of a provisional application in February CY25 and incorporates updated technical details from testwork conducted throughout CY25 and early CY26, together with revisions identified by the international search report based on the provisional patent.
Executive chairman and CEO, Mark Caruso, said the patent application is a key step towards securing global intellectual property protection for an innovation that enhances the efficiency, selectivity, and scalability of rubidium extraction.
“The process offers improved recovery performance, reduced processing complexity and potential cost benefits. Collectively, these advancements deliver strategic and technical advantages to EMC and further strengthen the development pathway for the Mt Edon critical minerals project,” he explained.
“In collaboration with Edith Cowan University’s Mineral Recovery Research Centre, ongoing purification and optimisation testwork continues to deliver strong results, further demonstrating this process as a strong, scalable and disruptive process technology for rubidium production.”
The patent is based on a unique sequence of combined extraction and purification technologies, including beneficiation, hydrometallurgy, and pyrometallurgy, to deliver a high-purity rubidium product with exceptional recoveries.
Mt Edon has an initial inferred MRE of 3.6 million tonnes grading 0.22% rubidium oxide, containing more than 7,900 tonnes of Rb2O. Rubidium is used in high-tech, scientific and industrial applications, including atomic clocks for GPS and telecommunications, vacuum tube getters and specialised glass.
EMC is up +3.7%, to 14c at lunchtime on Thursday.
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