Critica finds firmer footing for Jupiter’s giant rare earths resource

Jupiter gains its first Indicated resource

Critica Limited (ASX:CRI) has given 160 million tonnes of its Jupiter rare earths project a more credible place in the development story: the Indicated category. Independent consultant SRK Consulting classified the material at 1,700 parts per million total rare earth oxides, or TREO, using a 1,000 ppm cut-off.

The upgrade followed 145 air-core holes totalling 7,274 metres on a 125-metre by 125-metre grid across roughly 3.3 square kilometres. That area represents about 10% of Jupiter’s 42-square-kilometre resource footprint. The closer drilling improved confidence in geological and grade continuity, according to the filing.

Most of the resource remains Inferred

The headline resource is now 1.7 billion tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO, comprising 160 Mt of Indicated material and 1.5 Bt of Inferred material. That is down from the previous 1.8 Bt estimate at the same cut-off, but the company says the principal purpose of the update was to establish a higher-confidence component rather than expand the total tonnage.

The distinction matters. SRK says the model is suitable for mine-planning studies, but not for production planning or studies that rely heavily on local estimates. The resource has also not been independently audited beyond SRK’s preparation of the estimate, and no Ore Reserve has been declared.

Magnet rare earths support the project case

The Indicated material contains 420 ppm of magnet rare earth oxides, made up of neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium. Those elements represent about 24% to 25% of TREO in the Indicated resource. Critica has also reported preliminary potential for gallium and scandium, although both are excluded from TREO and remain secondary to the rare earths case.

Jupiter’s mineralogy is not a straightforward ionic-adsorption-clay story. The rare earths are mainly hosted in hydrated phosphate minerals, meaning Critica’s proposed route involves beneficiation, acid baking, water leaching and precipitation rather than weak-acid leaching alone. Earlier Jupiter product samples had given potential counterparties physical mixed rare earth products to assess, but commercial specifications and project economics remain unresolved.

Scoping Study becomes the next test

Sedgman is progressing the Jupiter Scoping Study, which Critica says will be released shortly. The study will be the first substantial test of whether the large geological inventory and developing flowsheet can be translated into a mine concept, processing assumptions and project economics. Earlier coverage had identified the study as a key milestone targeted for the third quarter of 2026 through the Jupiter scoping study.

The filing points to shallow, laterally continuous mineralisation, possible conventional open-pit mining and access within 10 kilometres of the sealed Geraldton-Mount Magnet Road. But detailed mining, processing, economic, environmental and approval studies are still incomplete. The next resource-confidence upgrade may therefore matter almost as much as the first: it would determine how much of Jupiter can move beyond a very large geological proposition and into a mineable project.