- Taruga Minerals (TAR) receives initial metallurgical testwork results from the Morgans Creek deposit in South Australia
- Through a partnership, ANSTO Minerals conducted acid leach trials on rare earth samples from the deposit for the potential development of a commercially viable process flowsheet
- Results showed extractions of up to 70 per cent magnet rare earth oxides and 60 per cent heavy rare earth oxides, confirming the presence of easily leachable REEs at Morgan’s Creek
- Taruga’s CEO, Thomas Line, says the results have given the company confidence to continue with further optimisation work and drilling in Q1 2023
- TAR shares are down 17.1 per cent to trade at 2.9 cents at 2:40 pm AEDT
Taruga Minerals (TAR) has confirmed the presence of easily leachable rare earth elements (REEs) within the Morgans Creek deposit in South Australia.
The company received results from the first batch of metallurgical samples which were evaluated during acid leach trials at the ANSTO Minerals (ANSTO) research and testwork facility.
The results proved extractions of up to 70 per cent of the magnet REE oxides (MREO), 60 per cent of the heavy REE oxides (HREO), and 59 per cent of the total rare earth oxides (TREO) can be achieved with moderate sulphuric acid addition.
The company also reported an average 52 per cent of MREO extraction in the Yednalue formation within Morgans Creek.
Yednalue showed “promising” extractions in the upper, middle and lower portions of the unit, of 58, 70, and 59 per cent MREO respectively. The company said this suggests metallurgical continuity, and that REE mineralisation is easily leachable with moderate acid addition.
“These initial metallurgical results have confirmed the presence of easily leachable rare earths in the target unit at Morgans Creek and provided us with confidence to continue with further optimisation and drilling in Q1 2023,” CEO Thomas Line said.
“Morgans Creek holds a unique assemblage of highly valuable magnet and heavy rare earths, and thus far, our partnership with ANSTO continues to affirm our confidence in the potential development of a commercially viable process flowsheet for these materials,” he added.
Overall, the combined results show that “significant increase” in extractions is possible by adding low to moderate amounts of sulphuric acid.
Taruga Minerals and ANSTO will use these results as a baseline for upcoming optimisation work and focus on commercially developing a REE concentrate using standard techniques.
TAR shares fell 17.1 per cent to trade at 2.9 cents at 2:40 pm AEDT.