Lynas Rare Earths says its significantly increased ore reserve will support at least a 20-year mine life of production at the expanded rate it is targeting from Mt Weld near Laverton.
Lynas released the new reserve and mineral resource estimate, last updated in 2018, during the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder last week.
The company said Mt Weld had 106.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 4.12 per cent for 4.39 million tonnes of contained total rare earth oxide.
It said this was a 92 per cent increase on the August 2018 estimate, with contained TREO rising by 46 per cent.
The company said 20Mt at 7.2 per cent for 1.4Mt was in the measured category, 15.5Mt at 4.3 per cent for 660,000t of TREO was indicated, and 71.1Mt at 3.2 per cent for 2.23Mt of TREO was inferred.
Lynas said there had been a 63 per cent increase in ore reserves to 32Mt at 6.44 per cent TREO.
It said 21.2Mt at 7.2 per cent for 1.56Mt of TREO was in the proved category, with 10.8Mt at 4.5 per cent for 480,000t of TREO was probable.
The company said the updated ore reserve supported a more than 35-year mine life at feedstock production rates of 7200 tonnes per annum of neodymium praseodymium oxide.
However, Mt Weld’s processing capacity is being expanded at a cost of $570 million, and Lynas said the updated ore reserve supported a more than 20-year mine life at a feedstock production capacity of 12,000tpa.
Lynas said the estimate was based on 84,000 metres of drilling since 2018, targeting rare earth element mineral resources surrounding the open cut mine in the saprolite zone and to 200m below surface.
Managing director and chief executive Amanda Lacaze said the updated ore reserve gave the company’s customers confidence it could meet their needs for responsibly produced rare earth materials “today and tomorrow”.
“The 92 per cent increase in mineral resources and 63 per cent increase in ore reserves from 2018 to 2024 demonstrates the capability of our people to significantly improve orebody knowledge, assure ore reserves and continuously improve reserve extraction efficiencies,” she said.
“The updated ore reserve includes a 92 per cent increase in contained dysprosium oxide.
“Dysprosium and terbium are essential for high-performance rare earth permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and essential for high-tech electronics.
“The increase in reserves ensures feed for the recently announced dysprosium-terbium separation circuit at Lynas Malaysia, supporting Lynas to serve the needs of existing customers and acquire new customers.”