Aldoro Resources says maiden metallurgical test work at its Kameelburg Rare Earth and Strontium Project in Namibia has achieved more than 99% strontium recovery and up to 72% rare earth extraction, with results the company says could support a simplified, potentially lower-cost processing route compared to many global rare earth projects.
The ASX-listed company announced that hydrochloric acid leach test work conducted by ALS Metallurgy Services in Perth successfully extracted rare earth elements and strontium directly from run-of-mine style mineralisation without the need for flotation, magnetic separation or other beneficiation stages normally associated with rare earth processing.
Aldoro said this places Kameelburg in a different category from many other global rare earth projects that require costly concentration and thermal cracking processes before rare earth recovery can begin.
The company said the maiden hydrometallurgical programme was conducted on a 91.27-kilogram composite sample prepared from 30 drill core samples taken from the Kameelburg project, with the material crushed, homogenised and ground before undergoing acid leach testing.
According to the results, the project delivered approximately 69.2% Total Rare Earth Element extraction in the primary 15% hydrochloric acid leach test, while cumulative re-leach test work increased recovery to about 71.8%. Strontium extraction exceeded 99% across all tests conducted.
The company also confirmed a composite head grade of 1.28% Total Rare Earth Elements and 2.67% strontium from the tested material, with cerium, lanthanum and neodymium identified as the principal value drivers within the deposit’s light rare earth basket.
Aldoro chairperson Quinn Li described the results as a major de-risking milestone for the project.
“These maiden metallurgical results represent a major de-risking milestone for Kameelburg and further reinforce the project’s emergence as one of the world’s most significant undeveloped rare earth and strontium systems,” Li said.
“What is particularly encouraging is that these recoveries were achieved from whole-rock mineralisation without the need for conventional flotation concentration prior to leaching. This suggests the potential for a simplified processing route relative to many rare earth projects globally,” he added.
Li said the project’s strontium recoveries further strengthened Kameelburg’s positioning as a potential multi-product critical minerals development.
“In addition to achieving approximately 72% TREE extraction, the exceptional strontium recovery exceeding 99% further highlights the unique multi-product nature of Kameelburg, which now hosts the world’s largest reported strontium resource together with globally significant rare earth and niobium inventories,” Li said.
The company said ancylite-hosted mineralisation at Kameelburg differs significantly from the monazite, bastnäsite and xenotime-hosted deposits commonly developed elsewhere, because ancylite is reportedly readily soluble in acids and therefore may not require aggressive high-temperature cracking processes.
Aldoro compared Kameelburg to several Australian-listed rare earth projects, including Mt Weld, Nolans, Yangibana and Browns Range, all of which rely on beneficiation and more complex downstream hydrometallurgical treatment processes.
The company said the direct-leach characteristics demonstrated at Kameelburg could potentially reduce both capital and operating costs by eliminating the need for beneficiation plants and energy-intensive cracking circuits, although it cautioned that further optimisation work and engineering studies would still be required.
Aldoro said the next phase of work will focus on improving recoveries, evaluating pre-concentration opportunities and developing a process flowsheet suitable for future scoping-level economic studies.
