Mount Ridley Mines has considerably expanded its scandium useful resource on the Grass Patch venture close to Esperance, Western Australia, reaching a complete of 946 million tonnes. This substantial determine positions the corporate as holding the world’s largest publicly reported JORC-compliant scandium useful resource, a milestone achieved as its proprietary processing know-how good points traction.
The newly outlined inferred useful resource boasts a mean grade of fifty.1 components per million (ppm) scandium, equating to roughly 47,357 tonnes of contained steel, or 72,637 tonnes of scandium oxide, based mostly on a 25ppm cut-off grade. This in depth deposit stretches over 25 kilometres in strike size, averages 3.5 kilometres in width, and extends from the floor right down to a depth of 70 metres.
The Grass Patch venture is split into two principal areas. Block 1, situated on the southern finish, was the positioning of Mount Ridley’s preliminary 367.98 million tonne scandium useful resource introduced in January and served as the muse for the present useful resource enlargement. As a substitute of endeavor an in depth and expensive drilling marketing campaign, the corporate leveraged its present geological information. The primary part of its 2026 re-assay program concerned sending 3,271 saved pulp samples from historic aircore and diamond drilling to the laboratory. These analyses revealed important, near-surface scandium mineralization extending past the beforehand outlined useful resource boundaries.
Following the combination of those new assays, Block 1 now encompasses 367.45 million tonnes at a grade of fifty.3ppm scandium, containing 18,475 tonnes of steel. To the north, alongside the identical geological pattern, Block 2 contributes a bigger portion with 578.63 million tonnes at 49.9ppm scandium, yielding 28,882 tonnes of steel. Mixed, these two distinct areas cowl roughly 44.5 sq. kilometres and type the premise of the 946 million tonne complete useful resource.
The useful resource mannequin is constructed upon information from 410 historic aircore and diamond holes, totalling 14,828 metres of drilling. Notably, many of those holes resulted in scandium mineralization, indicating that the deposit stays open each laterally and at depth.
Co-located Important Minerals Provide Synergies
Past scandium, the Grass Patch venture holds important potential for different helpful commodities. The 2 principal areas additionally host an estimated 122.5 million tonnes of heavy uncommon earths assets and 536.2 million tonnes of gallium assets. When contemplating the broader venture space, the overall gallium stock rises to 838.7 million tonnes.
Mount Ridley Mines highlights that the co-location of those metals may streamline materials dealing with and processing operations. This integration has the potential to considerably scale back each capital expenditure and working prices related to extraction.
Proprietary Processing Expertise: Selectro
A key differentiator for Mount Ridley is its wholly owned, patent-pending Selectro hydrometallurgical leach course of. This modern know-how is particularly designed to extract scandium, heavy uncommon earths, and gallium from the identical ore feed by way of a single, built-in processing circuit.
With the outcomes from part considered one of its re-assay program included into the 946 million tonne useful resource, Mount Ridley has initiated part two of its re-assaying efforts throughout the Grass Patch venture. The target is to determine and delineate additional extensions of the mineralized zones.
To assist potential upgrades in useful resource confidence, density testing is at the moment underway. Moreover, flotation testwork is being performed to judge the feasibility of concentrating helpful minerals earlier than the leaching stage. Preliminary TIMA (Textural Picture Evaluation) has recognized uncommon earth-bearing phosphate minerals throughout the ore, that are anticipated to reply favourably to flotation methods.
Engineering companies are additionally engaged in discussions relating to a scoping examine. This examine shall be instrumental in designing and costing an indication plant, supposed to check the Selectro course of at a bigger, extra commercially related scale.
Early laboratory outcomes from the Selectro course of have demonstrated promising scandium restoration charges of 80 per cent in preliminary assessments, whereas concurrently facilitating the extraction of heavy uncommon earths and gallium. Mount Ridley acknowledges that extra in depth, larger-scale work is critical to ascertain the definitive business economics of the method.
The corporate is exploring a number of avenues for its processing know-how, together with potential utility on the Grass Patch web site, licensing the know-how to 3rd events, or pursuing a mix of each methods. Moreover, Mount Ridley plans to check its Selectro chemistry on different deposits and metals to discover a broader vary of functions past the Grass Patch venture.
Strengthening Technical Experience and Analysis
The corporate’s processing ambitions obtained a major enhance in July with the appointment of skilled metallurgist Chris Larder as its inaugural Chief Expertise Officer. This strategic rent is complemented by established analysis collaborations with distinguished establishments, together with Oak Ridge Nationwide Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Nationwide Laboratory, and Germany’s Fraunhofer analysis group.
Important exploration potential stays at Grass Patch, with roughly 80 per cent of the venture’s tenure but to be explored. Seven gravity targets have been recognized, protecting an extra 33 kilometres of strike size, suggesting additional alternatives for useful resource discovery.
Strategic Location and Market Significance
The Grass Patch venture advantages from its strategic location, located simply 25 kilometres northeast of Esperance. This proximity to a deep-water port, together with present highway and energy infrastructure, supplies a definite logistical benefit in comparison with many different important minerals tasks situated in additional distant areas.
Scandium is a strategically vital steel, primarily utilized within the manufacturing of light-weight aluminium alloys important for the aerospace and defence industries. It additionally finds utility in strong oxide gasoline cells. Present international major manufacturing of scandium is restricted, with provide typically supplemented by present inventories and secondary sources, inserting new Western provide sources underneath intense scrutiny.
The strategic significance of scandium was lately underscored by a US$400 million conditional mortgage dedication from the U.S. Division of Struggle to Dawn Vitality Metals’ Syerston scandium venture earlier within the month.
Future Outlook
All through 2026, Mount Ridley Mines has centered on substantiating the immense scale of the Grass Patch deposit whereas concurrently creating its proprietary processing know-how for multi-metal extraction. With a considerable 946 million tonne scandium useful resource now confirmed and the promising Selectro processing know-how in its arsenal, the corporate seems poised to transition its focus from useful resource definition to demonstrating the business viability and supreme worth of its distinctive asset.
