Namibia Critical Metals has altered the original flowsheet at the Lofdal 2B-4 Project by introducing sorting for the lower-grade material.
The Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Elements project is one of the few rare earth deposits in the world that contains mostly heavy rare earth elements (~75% HREO distribution), with dysprosium and terbium being the economically most important elements.
The company is conducting intense value engineering for the Prefeasibility Study for the expanded Lofdal 2B-4 Project.
The Area 4 pit was extended, and over 2,100 tons of bulk samples were extracted from depths between 12 and 17 metres.
The bulk samples were taken according to the four ore blocks from the footwall to the hanging wall, representing ore variability with different country rocks forming the matrix of the mineralization and enveloping the ore zone.
The bulk samples are crushed and screened for extended XRT and XRF sorting tests at Gecko Namibia and RADOS South Africa.
The resulting flowsheet is expected to increase the feed grade to flotation by 50%.
As higher flotation efficiency was demonstrated in previous test work on higher-grade feed, the resulting flotation concentrate is expected to increase significantly, further reducing OPEX and CAPEX in the final hydrometallurgical circuit.
Namibia Critical Metals says all work streams commenced earlier in the year and showed encouraging results in achieving the planned OPEX savings.
The study is meant to increase run-of-mine from 2.1 Mt/a to 3.0 Mt/a with a high-grade and low-grade stream. While the high-grade material of about 1 Mt/a will directly undergo flotation, the low-grade material will be upgraded by XRT and possibly XRF sorting.
Additional geotechnical drilling, which started on April 3, 2025, is expected to allow steeper slope angles at the planned pits, thus decreasing the stripping ratio.
Namibia Critical Metals has hired SLR Namibia to identify a groundwater resource for sustainable extraction of Lofdal’s water demand in February 2025.
The company now aims at a power supply solution by an independent power producer (IPP) based on photovoltaic power with battery and limited diesel generator backup.
Interested companies have already submitted offers, which Namibia Critical Metals says demonstrate highly competitive electricity prices.
Namibia Critical Metals president Darrin Campbell says there is exciting progress at the Lofdal heavy rare earth project towards this year’s prefeasibility study.
Campbell says the recent events in Myanmar, which have caused supply disruptions of rare earths combined with the announcement by China to restrict exports of rare earth metals and permanent magnets, amplifies the need to diversify supply chains, particularly for heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium.
The Lofdal project is fully licensed with a valid Mining License until May 10, 2046.
The mining license 200 covers the entire prospective area of mineralized zones of the district-scale Lofdal Heavy Rare Earth Elements system.
