MTM Critical Metals has announced a major breakthrough in its two-step flash joule heating (FJH) technology, designed to change how rare earth elements (REE) are processed.
The FJH process offers an alternative to traditional “cracking and leaching” methods for REE processing, which relies of energy-intensive high-temperature sulfuric acid baking and large volumes of water, creating significant environmental and cost challenges.
By producing purified REE chlorides in a single step, FJH technology offers economic and environmental advantages.
“This breakthrough in REE processing simplifies rare earth extraction by producing REE-chlorides – a more valuable, easier to handle, and refined intermediate compared to traditional REE-sulphates,” MTM managing director and chief executive officer Michael Walshe said.
“This includes the highly valuable and strategically critical magnet REEs: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.
“Building on previous successes, it highlights the transformative potential of FJH technology to deliver higher efficiencies and a more sustainable alternative to incumbent methods.”
MTM’s FJH technology has now removed 95 per cent of the main impurities and harmful elements, providing the opportunity to significantly reduce the mass of any transported concentrate material, while simplifying downstream enrichment.
This technology has also improved REE conversion, with a 93 per cent success rate of a single carbo-chlorination flash converting REEs into high-purity water soluble chlorides.
“The optimisation achieved highlights our ability to not only match traditional processing methods in recovery but also remove major impurities in a single step, significantly reducing water consumption, chemical reagent usage and the complexity of downstream refinement,” Walshe said.
“The resulting economic and environmental benefits are expected to be substantial. Amid current geopolitical dynamics and the urgent need to reduce reliance on Chinese REE supply chains, MTM is well-positioned to provide a critical alternative.
“We look forward to advancing collaborations to bring this game-changing technology to market.”
MTM jumped from $0.22 per share to $0.30 per share following the announcement, with potential to surge even higher if it can continue de-risking its groundbreaking technology.
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