Kendrick Resources says more than 95% of the rare earth pool at its Teufelskuppe Carbonatite Complex in Namibia is in minerals amenable to established processing routes, as the company advances metallurgical work to determine how the deposit could eventually be processed.
The company said on Thursday that independent mineralogical analysis had confirmed that rare earth elements at Teufelskuppe are predominantly hosted in fluorocarbonate minerals, particularly bastnäsite and parisite, which are commonly associated with major rare earth deposits globally.
The findings follow a work programme announced in March to establish the project’s mineralogical and metallurgical characteristics ahead of future processing studies.
Bulk sample analysis found total rare earth mineral content ranging between 1.3% and 7.8%, with an average of 3.8%.
Kendrick said the mineralogy supports the potential application of established processing methods, although metallurgical testing to determine actual recoveries and develop a processing flowsheet is continuing.
Three bulk samples were submitted to German specialist Dorfner Anzaplan in August for early-stage metallurgical assessment and Mineral Liberation Analysis targeting light rare earth oxide recovery.
The Anzaplan programme uses representative samples from the principal structures within the Teufelskuppe carbonatite complex and is guided by the latest mineralogical work.
Kendrick also reported low concentrations of uranium and thorium, which it believes could reduce processing, environmental, and permitting complications commonly associated with rare earth projects.
Certified assays from SGS South Africa covering 96 samples from the northern suite of Teufelskuppe outcrops returned average thorium concentrations of 144 parts per million and uranium concentrations of 3.6 ppm.
The company said comparable hard-rock rare earth projects used in its benchmarking contain thorium concentrations ranging from 240 ppm to 2,900 ppm and uranium concentrations from 30 ppm to 360 ppm.
Kendrick chairman Colin Bird said the low radioactivity profile represented an important milestone as the company moves towards designing a processing flowsheet.
“The significance of the latest mineralogical and radioactivity results from certified assays showing the Bonya project to have thorium and uranium levels notably lower than global averages or that of many currently operating REE projects should not be overlooked since high content of radioactive elements has traditionally been a ‘Project Stopper’ or led to a requirement for very high cost (capex and opex) processing routes,” Bird said.
“This represents one of the three major milestones having been met and neatly leads into the design of a flow sheet that will have fewer complications not being burdened by high radioactivity levels.”
Kendrick said thorium and uranium can occur within rare earth mineral lattices and may have to be managed during processing as naturally occurring radioactive material.
The company expects to handle radiation protection and waste-management requirements at Teufelskuppe through standard industry practices, although detailed technical, environmental and permitting work remains ahead.
The latest work follows drilling results released by Kendrick earlier this month as it continues evaluating the scale of Teufelskuppe.
The company is targeting the development of a large light rare earth resource at the project, while the current mineralogical and metallurgical programmes are intended to establish whether the mineralisation can ultimately be processed economically.
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