RE:RE:IPG developed high recovery extraction process Very good results for both SC and REE and the flow sheet development is o goi t to be finished until Q3 2021.
The two-stage hydrometallurgical extraction method entails a high-pressure caustic leach (HPC) followed by hydrochloric acid leach of the HPC residue. The new method showed remarkable recovery of scandium and the rare earth elements from Imperial's Crater Lake Sc-REE mineralization (see Imperial Mining press release dated March 2, 2020, for details of the MET samples herein mentioned):
- The method showed scandium recovery to primary leach solution (PLS) of 87% for MET01, and 84% for MET02 samples.
- The recovery of total rare earth element, including yttrium (TREE+Y) of 84%, from both MET01 and MET02 samples.
- The high recoveries of Sc and TREE+Y from both samples show that the method has excellent efficacy in extracting Sc and REE from samples representing different mineralization types observed in drilling
Imperial Mining Group and MPlan-Dorfner ANZAPLAN continue to develop its hydrometallurgical flowsheet by treating a 100 kg mineral concentrate that was produced from two bulk samples collected from drillcore: MET01 and MET02. The program will recover scandium as scandium oxide (Sc2O3), and TREE+Y as a bulk concentrate. The Phase 3 hydrometallurgical flowsheet development program will be completed in the third quarter of 2021