Alurion moves Amargosa bauxite project towards a mid-2027 PFS

Amargosa enters its pre-feasibility phase

Alurion Resources Limited (ASX:ALU) is putting its freshly listed balance sheet behind a defined development timetable for the Amargosa Bauxite-Gallium Project in Bahia, Brazil, with a direct-shipping-bauxite pre-feasibility study targeted for mid-2027. The company ended September with US$28.538 million in cash and reported an estimated 9.6 quarters of funding based on its current operating cash outflow, giving it room to complete the next round of technical work without immediately returning to the market on the figures disclosed.

“Amargosa 2026 infill drilling campaign – Central District collar plan.”

The program is more than a desktop study. Alurion has commenced 203 auger holes covering 2,436 metres and 20 diamond twin holes covering 800 metres in the Central District, alongside up to 16 bulk-sample trenches across the Central and North districts. The work is designed to support updated Mineral Resource Estimates, mine planning and product testing rather than establish a production outcome.

Road study expands assessed logistics capacity

“Southern route: from the Amargosa Central District to a proposed FIOL rail load-out that would connect to Port of South once the rail and port are completed.”

Logistics has emerged as one of the project's clearer technical positives. An independent Engimind study assessed road haulage volumes of 5.75, 8.6 and 11.5 wet million tonnes a year, finding suitable modelled service levels and no road-capacity constraints on the route to the Port of Enseada. The highest scenario is twice the 5.75 wet Mtpa base case used in the Scoping Study, although the company is explicit that these are capacity scenarios, not production targets or forecasts.

The study, which was released on 6 October, uses the existing BR-101 highway with targeted local upgrades and district loading terminals. Alurion's trucks are expected to account for less than 1% of corridor traffic at the base case and 1.6% at 11.5 wet Mtpa. The company is also working with the port operator on configurations that could lift Enseada's capacity to as much as 13.5 wet Mtpa. That option remains subject to engineering and commercial agreement, while the October haulage study had already identified the route as a potential foundation for a larger operation without changing Amargosa's base-case development pathway.

Bulk samples target product quality and by-products

“Bulk sample test work program”

The trenching program will provide representative feedstock for testing that drilling alone cannot replicate. Alurion plans to examine product sizing, moisture and safe-shipping characteristics, as well as beneficiation yields across the project's 470 million-tonne beneficiable bauxite Mineral Resource. It will also test whether ilmenite, zircon and monazite can be recovered from material currently reporting to fines.

Bayer-process trials are intended to measure digestion conditions, alumina recovery, caustic consumption, residue generation and gallium deportment. The results are expected to inform product qualification, potential offtake discussions and the PFS. Alurion said it has begun preliminary, non-binding discussions with alumina and aluminium groups in China, the Middle East and Brazil, but those conversations remain exploratory.

Listing funds the next technical campaign

Alurion was admitted to the ASX on 29 July and began trading on 31 July after issuing 47,619,048 shares at A$1.05 to raise A$50 million, equivalent to US$34.8 million in the announcement. The demerger from Brazilian Rare Earths created a standalone vehicle focused on Amargosa, with a Brazilian management team and a board that includes mining, capital-markets, Brazil and aluminium experience.

Quarterly exploration and evaluation spending totalled US$2.032 million, with no mine development or production payments. The cash-flow report recorded a US$2.963 million net operating outflow for the quarter, while financing activities contributed US$31.025 million after the equity issue, loan movements and offer costs. That funding position is useful, but it sits against a project still dependent on successful studies, permitting, land access, commercial arrangements and future development finance.

Permits and approvals remain material dependencies

Amargosa comprises 46 exploration permits covering 74,823.5 hectares. Only one assignment from Brazilian Rare Earths has been approved and published by Brazil's Agência Nacional de Mineração; the remaining 45 are awaiting registration. Separately, 26 permits are awaiting approval of Final Exploration Reports, while 20 have approved reports and require Economic Exploitation Plans, expected to be filed by the first quarter of 2027.

Environmental baseline studies are also underway across the dry and wet seasons, with submission of the EIA/RIMA documentation to INEMA targeted for the second half of 2027, subject to regulatory review. The southern FIOL-Porto Sul export route offers a possible longer-term alternative, but it relies on unfinished third-party infrastructure and has no secured access or capacity allocation for Alurion.

Mid-2027 is the next major test

The immediate sequence is clear: complete drilling and trenching by year-end, conduct ore-characterisation and moisture testing in the first quarter of 2027, deliver critical-mineral recovery results and updated resource estimates in the second quarter, then assemble the Amargosa direct-shipping-bauxite PFS around mid-year. The central question is whether the field samples and metallurgical work can convert a large resource base and workable road corridor into a technically and commercially credible development case.