• High-grade, low-radiation monazite concentrate confirmed
• Conventional sulphuric acid bake achieves high extraction of key rare earth elements
• Fast leach kinetics and broad operating window

Lindian Resources provides an update on downstream hydrometallurgical testwork for its Kangankunde Rare Earths Project in Malawi, undertaken at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The testwork confirms that the Kangankunde monazite concentrate is a premium feedstock, with a high-grade of 55.9wt% TREO and very low thorium and uranium levels. Conventional sulphuric acid bake and water leach tests achieved 91-94% TREY extraction and 93-97% Nd+Pr extraction, with ANSTO concluding that very high (>97%) rare earth extraction is readily achievable with further optimisation. The testwork also demonstrated fast leach kinetics, effective impurity removal, and the production of a high-grade MREC product containing 45.0wt% TREY and 10.7wt% Nd+Pr, with negligible radionuclides. Combining the acid bake, leach, impurity removal and carbonate precipitation gives an estimated overall TREO recovery of 92% and Nd+Pr recovery of 97% from concentrate to MREC. The simple and scalable flowsheet supports attractive operating-cost assumptions and low downstream scale-up risk.

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A further optimization program is underway to reduce acid consumption while maintaining or improving TREY and Nd+Pr extraction, as well as a parallel caustic-conversion program to benchmark reagent consumption, recoveries and product quality against the acid-bake route.