(Kitco News) - NioCorp Developments (TSX: NB) today announced that its demonstration-scale processing plant in Quebec has succeeded in obtaining a rare earth dissolution rate of 86-95% from Elk Creek ore through hydrochloric acid leaching, and has achieved a loading rate of rare earths as high as 99% in the follow-on solvent extraction recovery step.
The company said that these relatively high rates, which were expected, point to potentially strong rates of overall recovery of separated rare earth oxides, subject to additional demonstration testing over the coming weeks.
"Additional solvent extraction steps will be deployed to establish the ultimate recovery rates of potential rare earth products. The demonstration plant has further established that the rare earths recovered in the initial solvent extraction step are accompanied by only two impurities of note: iron and a very small amount of nickel," NioCorp added.
According to a company press release, given the success of this initial separation step, L3 and NioCorp expect that losses in the additional solvent extraction steps would be low.
"These results are in line with our expectations and they show that the ongoing work at the plant is proceeding in a positive direction," said COO Scott Honan. "In the coming weeks, we look forward to seeing the final results from the separations extractions testing that is now underway and to reporting those results to the public."
The company also noted that further studies are required before determining whether extraction of rare earth elements can be reasonably justified and economically viable after taking account all relevant factors.
NioCorp is developing a critical minerals project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce niobium, scandium, and titanium. The company is also evaluating the potential to produce several rare earths from the project.
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