[REVISION HISTORY]

Mount Ridley Mines scandium resource and recovery updates

Updated 4 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-23 08:01 UTC → 2026-10-15 03:08 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Mount Ridley Mines has reported significant technical progress and resource upgrades regarding mineral extraction at the Grass Patch Complex in Western Australia. Automated mineralogy studies identified that rare earth elements are primarily hosted within xenotime, crandallite-group phosphates, and monazite/rhabdophane. Metallurgical testing of the proprietary Selectro leaching process demonstrated higher recovery rates for critical minerals compared to conventional hydrochloric acid leaching. In August 2026, the company announced a major resource upgrade, reporting a JORC-compliant scandium resource of 946Mt at 50.1ppm, containing approximately 47,357 tonnes of scandium metal. In September 2026, the company reported record recoveries during its third leach test at Grass Patch. Using the Selectro process on unbeneficiated material, scandium recovery reached 91.8%, up from 80%, while heavy rare earth (HREE) recoveries averaged approximately 84% and light rare earth (LREE) recoveries averaged 77%. These results were achieved in under four hours using only half the reagent dose required in previous tests, though gallium recovery decreased to approximately 41.5% from 55.8%. Further exploration efforts have identified high-grade scandium intercepts at the Grass Patch project. Re-assaying historical drill pulps revealed mineralization extending up to 8km beyond existing resource boundaries, including intercepts such as 22 meters at 119.41ppm scandium oxide. Mount Ridley Mines expects these findings to expand its resource footprint. In October 2026, the company reported successful third-party metallurgical testing of its patent-pending Selectro process using a bauxite sample from the Darling Range project. The process achieved a 91.9% recovery rate for aluminium and a 96.7% recovery rate for iron. Operating at temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius, the method is 50% cooler than the traditional Bayer process. Additionally, unlike conventional refining that produces caustic red mud, the Selectro leach produces a small, pH-neutral residue representing only 25% of the original feed mass.

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