Victory Metals Demonstrates 7.1% TREO Concentrate with 40% Heavy Rare Earths

Pilot Plant Validates Low-Cost Heavy Rare Earth Concentration

Victory Metals Limited (ASX:VTM) has taken a significant step forward in rare earth processing with its North Stanmore Project, unveiling a continuous flotation pilot plant in Perth that upgrades ore to a 7.1% Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) concentrate enriched with 40% heavy rare earth oxides (HREOs). This represents a roughly 59-fold increase from the feed grade of 1,195 ppm TREO, drawn from a robust dataset of 65 samples spanning 25 drill holes.

Unlike previous bench-scale tests, this result was produced in a continuously fed circuit operating at approximately 12 times the scale, underscoring the process's scalability. Victory’s CEO Brendan Clark emphasised the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the approach, highlighting that the flotation circuit operates at ambient temperature and avoids the high capital burden of traditional high-temperature acid cracking.

Premium Heavy Rare Earths and Low Radioactivity Concentrate

The concentrate boasts significant quantities of premium heavy rare earth oxides, including Dysprosium oxide at 2,777 ppm, Terbium oxide at 479 ppm, and Yttrium oxide at 1.77 wt%. These elements are critical for Western supply chains seeking secure, non-Chinese sources of heavy rare earths. Notably, the concentrate exhibits extremely low levels of radioactive Thorium and Uranium, with activity levels of 2.35 Bq/g and 1.47 Bq/g respectively, allowing it to be shipped as general cargo without special handling.

This enriched product aligns with market demand for heavy rare earths that are genuinely scarce and strategically vital, rather than lighter rare earth elements already abundant in existing supply chains. Victory plans to produce larger volumes of this concentrate to facilitate evaluation and qualification by potential offtake partners.

Processing Advantage Rooted in Mineralogy and Pilot Plant Ownership

The processing breakthrough stems from North Stanmore’s unique mineralogy, where heavy rare earths are hosted in discrete, well-liberated secondary phosphate minerals; rhabdophane and churchite; that respond well to conventional froth flotation. This contrasts with many clay-hosted rare earth deposits that require energy-intensive leaching.

Victory’s in-house pilot plant ownership in Perth grants the company direct control over its processing intellectual property and the agility to optimise and scale the flowsheet rapidly. The flotation circuit’s ability to reject over 95% of ore mass upstream points to a hydrometallurgical plant significantly smaller and cheaper than initially envisaged, potentially slashing capital and operating costs.

These developments build on Victory’s earlier flotation work that achieved a 48-fold upgrade to 5.9% TREO concentrate and a 50% reduction in flotation reagent costs, with equivalent performance at ambient temperature, eliminating the need for heating systems.

Implications for North Stanmore’s Development Pathway

Victory’s North Stanmore project, located in Western Australia’s Cue Region, holds Australia’s largest indicated clay heavy rare earth resource with a Mineral Resource Estimate of 320.6 million tonnes at 510 ppm TREO plus scandium. The flotation results feed directly into the company’s impending Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), expected to clarify the economic and technical viability of the project.

With a processing route that avoids the billion-dollar capital expenditure typical of conventional hard rock rare earth projects, North Stanmore emerges as a potentially capital-efficient supplier of critical heavy rare earths to Western markets. The company’s focus now shifts to scaling concentrate production for offtake discussions, a crucial step toward commercialisation.