Arkadian Strategic Metals PLC (AIM:AKN, OTC:ALBAF, FRA:9AB) has produced rare earth concentrates in initial tests at its majority-owned Motzfeldt project in Greenland, taking a first step towards defining a processing route for the Aries deposit.
A preliminary flotation test produced a concentrate grading 13.37% total rare earth oxides, around 20 times the starting grade of 0.65%, while recovering 20.3% of the rare earth oxides in the test feed. The result came from a single, unoptimised stage.
Aries hosts a 340 million-tonne inferred mineral resource, although the scoping tests used just one selected bulk sample. Overall processing recoveries and concentrate specifications for downstream refining remain to be established.
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“These first-phase metallurgical test work results from the Aries deposit at Motzfeldt show that the rare earth minerals in the tested sample can be separated from the host rock and concentrated using established processing methods,” said executive chair George Frangeskides.
“The gravity tests also produced concentrates carrying rare earths and zirconium. For a deposit of Aries’ scale, showing that the minerals respond to conventional separation is the essential first step towards a processing route, and that is what Phase 1 has given us.
He added: “The work has also told us where to focus next: finer grinding to release more of the target minerals, and a combined gravity and flotation route. Phase 2 is designed to raise recovery and concentrate grade on that basis, and also to assess niobium and tantalum recovery alongside the demonstrated rare earth and zirconium response.”
Mineral analysis identified finer grinding as the main route to improving recovery by releasing more target minerals from the host rock. A second phase will test combined gravity separation and flotation, targeting higher recovery and concentrate grades while also assessing niobium and tantalum recovery.
At its wholly owned Clogau-St David’s gold mine in north Wales, Arkadian collected 29 samples from the Jack Williams vein to guide further underground exploration. It also collected approximately 1.5 tonnes of floor material around Shaft 2, scheduled for pilot plant processing to test gold recovery from historic mine material.
