Mount Ridley adds vanadium-rich titanomagnetite to Selectro platform

Titanomagnetite delivers 95.5% vanadium recovery

Mount Ridley Mines Limited (ASX:MRD) has added a major vanadium-bearing feed to its Selectro processing platform, recovering 95.5% of vanadium from a third-party titanomagnetite sample. The same two-stage test also recovered 48.6% of titanium and 77.6% of iron, giving the company a broader result than the vanadium-only pathway typically associated with this mineral.

The sample contained 1.30% V2O5, 14.2% TiO2 and 52.3% iron. Mount Ridley says the combined recoveries were calculated by comparing residue and head assays, consistent with the method used in its earlier bauxite testing.

Two-stage leaching separates vanadium from titanium

Selectro first leached vanadium and iron preferentially over titanium. That left a residue grading 21.5% TiO2, up from 14.2% in the original sample. A second leach using fresh solution then lifted titanium recovery from 9% in the first stage to 48% overall, while also recovering additional vanadium and iron.

Mount Ridley attributes the weaker first-stage titanium recovery to solution loading, with iron and vanadium heavily occupying the solution. The company says the second-stage improvement suggests the leach conditions could be refined further, but the test does not disclose operating costs, reagent consumption, product specifications or a commercial flowsheet.

Selectro expands from scandium and bauxite

Titanomagnetite is now the third distinct feed type tested by Selectro, following Grass Patch clay and bauxite. The result extends a platform whose earlier work included strong bauxite recoveries, with the company reporting 94.9% gallium, 91.9% aluminium and 96.7% iron recovery from that feed.

“Location of the Grass Patch Project 25km north of Esperance, Western Australia.”

The new result also reconnects the processing work with Mount Ridley’s Grass Patch project. Titanium-scandium alloys are being assessed alongside aluminium-scandium alloys through the company’s CSIRO Kick-Start program with Lab22, while the Grass Patch project contains a 946.1 million-tonne Inferred scandium Mineral Resource. That resource and the latest scandium work were reported alongside 946.1Mt scandium resource, but the current announcement concerns a separate third-party titanomagnetite sample.

Demonstration plant becomes the next commercial test

Mount Ridley says it is discussing the design of a Selectro demonstration plant with engineering groups. Having tested three feed types, the plant could potentially be used to showcase the process on both company material and third-party feeds, supporting discussions with vanadium and titanium producers.

The immediate work programme includes a larger bauxite test intended to demonstrate separation and purification through a full mine-to-metal pathway. Additional third-party feed testing may follow in calendar 2027 or be considered case by case. The titanomagnetite result is encouraging on recovery, but the important commercial questions now shift to scale-up, reagent intensity, product quality and whether the two-stage process can deliver competitive economics without the high-temperature salt roast used in conventional titanomagnetite processing.