Axel REE Ltd (ASX:AXL) has selected the Woolrich deposit within its Caladão Project in Brazil’s Lithium Valley as the site for its inaugural in-situ recovery (ISR) rare earths field trial, marking a shift toward field-scale development.
The trial will be conducted within a defined area of about two hectares and is designed to generate pregnant leach solution (PLS) under real operating conditions, supporting the development of a scalable ISR extraction model.
Woolrich forms part of the broader Caladão resource base, which includes 572Mt at 1,506ppm total rare earth oxides, with the deposit itself hosting 128Mt and demonstrating soluble grades comparable to operating ISR projects globally.
Prior metallurgical work confirmed Woolrich as an ionic clay-hosted system with favourable characteristics for low-cost ISR development, including average soluble TREO grades of 464ppm and a magnet-rich rare earth assemblage with strong NdPr content.
Located in Brazil’s Minas Gerais region, the Caladão Project sits within a globally recognised rare earth province, alongside other major REE developments.
Field trial to support full value chain and development planning
The field program is aimed at calibrating Axel’s magnesium sulphate wellfield model and advancing key parameters including permeability, reagent consumption and recovery behaviour at field scale.
PLS generated from the trial will be sent to Core Resources in Australia for downstream processing into mixed rare earth carbonate, allowing the company to test the full value chain from in-situ extraction through to a saleable product.
A multidisciplinary technical team is being assembled to execute the programme, covering geology, hydrogeology, engineering, environmental management and specialist consulting inputs.
Near-term work will include completion of column leach testwork, hydrogeological and geotechnical assessments, and finalisation of the field trial design. This will be followed by wellfield installation, commencement of magnesium sulphate injection and recovery of PLS from the test area.
Data generated from the program will be integrated with the Caladão Area B mineral resource to support further ISR technical studies and help define a pathway toward potential development.