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Metallium Ltd (ASX:MTM) has executed a deal with New Frontier Metals (ASX:NFM) to secure binding rights over NFM’s “Heavy REE-rich Harts Range Project” after MTM was able to use its flash joule heating tech – originally used for reclaiming gold from e-waste – to reportedly enrich Harts Range ore 20 times.
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What exactly the company means here is somewhat unclear, but it says it used its FJH tech on NFM-sourced untreated ore from Harts Range to increase total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 1.7% to 35% – the twentyfold upgrade – and reported in a “single step,” dysprosium enrichment reflected a 53x improvement.
For its part, the company wrote: “Early testwork using Metallium’s proprietary Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology on material from NFM’s Harts Range Project in the Northern Territory of Australia, delivered exceptional enrichment in dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb), two of the rarest and most strategic rare-earth elements (REEs).”
But this finance journalist is still left a little confused by how exactly that works. And, as importantly, why NFM executed a binding agreement.
One flowchart included in the Tuesday disclosure implies that what was delivered back to NFM was a mixed rare earths chloride, which had impurities and other non-target metals removed, thereby increasing total dysprosium oxide concentrations from 0.19% to 10%.
At any rate: “Through this agreement we’ve ensured that Metallium not only leads the technology side but also holds enduring commercial exposure to one of the rarest natural Dy/Tb-rich systems identified to date,” MTM CEO Michael Walshe said.
Despite the potentially promising news, the Tuesday update wasn’t enough to save MTM from what is a slaughterhouse session on the ASX 200 of late; shares were down in late morning trade.
MTM last traded at 74cps.
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