Cobra Resources advances rare earth purification tests

Cobra Resources, a South Australian mineral exploration and development company, has reported progress in rare earth purification tests conducted at the Australian Nuclear Scientific Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The tests, part of a broader effort to support an upcoming scoping study, demonstrated the removal of more than 97% of radium and up to 90% of actinium. Additionally, more than 90% of magnet and heavy rare earth elements were retained during the purification process, while the concentration of lanthanum was reduced by 1% to 30%. The purification step aims to reduce radionuclide concentrations and selectively remove lower-value lanthanum before final product precipitation, potentially increasing the relative weighting of magnet and heavy rare earths in the mixed rare earth carbonate product. Further testing at ANSTO includes lixiviant optimization, resource recovery evaluation with more than 40 diagnostic leach tests, and bench-scale in situ recovery trials. The Wudinna project, located in South Australia, contains ionic rare earth elements in a permeable horizon confined between impermeable clay layers, and bench-scale in situ recovery testing has confirmed the mineralization is amenable to in situ recovery techniques.