Critica Declares Jupiter Maiden Resource as Australia’s Largest Clay Hosted REE Resource
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Critica (ASX: CRI) released, what the company claims as being, the “largest and highest-grade clay hosted rare earth resource”, in Australia.
Critica made the bold statement when releasing an independent maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its flagship Jupiter project, which forms part of the company’s broader 100 per cent-owned Brothers clay hosted rare earth project in Western Australia.
The MRE has come in with a Global Resource of 1.8 billion tonnes at 1,700ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) (1,000ppm cut-off), including a high-grade resource of 500 million tonnes at 2,200ppm TREO (1,800ppm cut-off).
Critica said the Inferred MRE, prepared by resource consultancy SRK Consulting, had greatly exceeded its own expectations in terms of both tonnes and grade.
“It is incredibly exciting to be able to unveil Australia’s premier clay hosted rare earth deposit – the numbers speak for themselves,” Critica managing director Philippa Leggat said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“Our maiden resource represents a major milestone that we have, rather remarkably, delivered in just over a year from announcing the discovery in November 2023.
“The size and grade in the clay-hosted Jupiter deposit is unmatched in Australia, and globally significant.
“The development potential is boosted by its exceptional location in a well-established, West Australian mining district that benefits from robust existing infrastructure.
“Moreover, the near-surface and highly consistent nature of the deposit affords us optionality when it comes to considering future processing and development scenarios.
“Our initial metallurgy has demonstrated the potential to beneficiate our grade by 830% while simultaneously reducing the overall mass by an extraordinary 95%.
“We are well funded to continue advancing this testwork and drill test our satellite discoveries to assess the true potential of our provincial scale opportunity at the broader Brothers project.”
TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE