source：GlobeNewswire (press release)
Wheat Ridge, Colorado pilot plant expected to be operational within 90 days
Process development facility will utilize proven continuous ion exchange/continuous ion chromatography (CIX/CIC) processing technology
Round Top ore will be processed into fully separated individual high purity rare earths; lithium, technology metals and industrial minerals will also be produced from the polymetallic ore
Strategy is to ultimately move the pilot plant to Texas and scale to full industrial capability
Have commenced discussions with potential tolling customers currently being serviced in China due to lack of domestic American capability and capacity
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (TMRC), an exploration company targeting the heavy rare earths and a variety of other technology metals and industrial minerals, and USA Rare Earth, LLC, its funding and development partner, are pleased to announce commencement of a pilot process development facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado with the goal to separate and purify rare earth and other tech metals leached from ore from the partnership’s Round Top project, located just outside El Paso, Texas. The process development facility will incorporate test equipment, a dedicated CIX/CIC pilot plant and onsite analytical capability.
“The Denver area has long been the center of mineral technology for the United States and offers excellent infrastructure and support for the mining industry,” said Dan Gorski, CEO of TMRC and Round Top Project Manager for USA Rare Earth. “We look forward to being able to efficiently utilize the resources of such diverse institutions as the Colorado School of Mines, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other locally based private groups as our project advances.”
Working in conjunction with Inventure Renewables, Fenix NZ Limited, Resource Development Inc. and Pro Solv Consulting, the Colorado pilot plant is being designed to extract and purify multiple elements -- including the rare earths and scandium, lithium, hafnium, zirconium, gallium and beryllium, among others. This new plant will process leach solutions from the Round Top ore using state-of-the-art continuous ion exchange and continuous ion chromatography (CIX-CIC) to separate and purify up to a total of 26 different recoverable elements from the leach product of Roundtop ore.
Pini Althaus, CEO of USA Rare Earth, commented, “The Wheat Ridge pilot plant is the second piece of a 100%-U.S.-based rare earth oxide supply chain, drawing on feedstock from our Round Top heavy rare earth deposit in southwest Texas. Taken together, we believe Round Top and our pilot plant constitute essential links in restoring a domestic U.S. rare earth supply chain, extracting rare earths and processing them into individual REE oxides – without the material leaving the United States, thereby alleviating the current dependence on China for both raw materials and mineral processing. Aside from Round Top’s potential to supply material for U.S. defense as well as commercial applications, our initiative could reinvigorate advanced domestic technology manufacturing in the U.S. and provide companies currently doing business overseas with a viable alternative.”