NioCorp Developments Ltd has announced a significant advance in its ongoing process optimization and rare earth recovery test work being conducted for the Elk Creek Superalloy Materials project by L3 Process Development.
NioCorp said L3 has conducted bench-scale testing at its facility in Quebec to optimize the project's current processing flowsheet and demonstrate that NioCorp can recover and produce high purity rare earth elements, such as neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, in addition to the niobium, scandium, and titanium products already planned for production by the company -- once project financing is secured.
L3's bench-scale testing recently succeeded in showing the promise of a much more efficient process for recovering niobium and titanium from Elk Creek ore following the leaching and acid baking steps in the current flowsheet. Among other things, the process removes iron earlier in the process.
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If shown to be technically and economically feasible at demonstration scale, this process could potentially result in the following outcomes:
- Improved recovery rates for niobium and titanium, which could potentially increase revenue derived from those products;
- The production of higher purity niobium and titanium intermediates, which may lower costs in the project's pyrometallurgical plant;
- The production of a higher purity titanium product, which could open up new markets for NioCorp;
- Elimination of entire steps in the project's current processing flowsheet, such as those related to neutralization and onsite acid production;
- Elimination of processing inputs such as iron powder; and
- Reduced waste generated in the ferroniobium pyrometallurgical plant
Additionally, NioCorp said the higher purity niobium and titanium intermediates produced by this process could move the company closer to the eventual production of high-purity niobium and titanium materials needed for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.
NioCorp already plans to produce high purity scandium, which also is being investigated for possible use in next-generation solid-state lithium-ion batteries
"L3's work to further optimize the Elk Creek Project's flowsheet in preparation for final engineering, and to map out a pathway to the potential production of high-purity rare earth elements, has demonstrated the potential to make some very important improvements in how we produce all of our planned products," said Scott Honan, NioCorp's chief operating officer, in a statement.
"If these flowsheet enhancements prove out at the demonstration plant level, they could lead to some very significant increases in pay metal recovery rates and potentially large reductions in capital and operating expenses. We look forward to validating these preliminary findings at the demonstration plant level and to communicating the final results of this effort when completed."
Eric Larochelle, co-owner of L3, added: "The latest achievement in the bench-scale program provides promising results regarding the quality of the products this process can potentially provide."
NioCorp said the next steps in L3's work metallurgical test work involve, among other things, measuring recovery rates for targeted rare earth elements in a demonstration-scale plant, which it is constructing in Canada.
This testing is expected to produce results that will determine the technical and economic feasibility of adding rare earth products to the project's existing product suite and other process improvements.
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