Brazilian Rare Earths low-heat flowsheet: recovery and capex notes for mine engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Brazilian Rare Earths has validated a low-temperature extraction flowsheet achieving 97 per cent total rare earth oxide recovery from its ionic clay-hosted mineralisation in Bahia, using ambient-pressure leaching rather than conventional high-heat cracking. The process targets magnet rare earths such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, and is designed around simple tank leach, solid–liquid separation and impurity removal stages. Lower thermal input and simplified unit operations could materially cut capex and opex for future processing plants and ease scale-up of modular circuits.
Technical Brief
- For other ionic clay projects, similar ambient-pressure leach circuits could simplify permitting around thermal emissions.
Our Take
Among the 94 rare-earth keyword pieces in our database, very few report recovery rates approaching the 97 per cent level, suggesting BRE’s low-temperature flowsheet could sit at the upper end of current process performance benchmarks.
For an Australia-based rare earth operator, a low-heat extraction route is strategically significant because it can reduce power demand in remote grids and ease permitting around thermal emissions compared with conventional high-temperature circuits.
If BRE can maintain near-97 per cent recoveries at scale, it likely improves project economics on lower-grade orebodies, which in turn can extend mineable resources and support longer-life project studies within Australia’s rare earth pipeline.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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