Axel REE opens path to first Woolrich rare earths field test

State Clearances Remove Immediate Barriers

Axel REE Limited (ASX:AXL, FSE:HN8) has cleared two regulatory hurdles for its first planned in situ recovery field programme at the Woolrich rare earths deposit in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The State environmental licensing exemption and a three-year registration for insignificant water use give the company a path to begin the controlled field work.

The exemption was issued by Minas Gerais' State Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, while the water-use registration came from the Instituto Mineiro de Gestão das Águas. Axel says the programme is the first known rare earths ISR field programme of its kind in Minas Gerais.

Woolrich Testing Moves Beyond the Laboratory

The programme will test magnesium sulphate-based ISR on Woolrich's ionic clay-hosted mineralisation. The method is described by Axel as the leaching approach used for ionic clay rare earth production in China and Southeast Asia, but the company still needs to establish how it performs under Woolrich's specific ground conditions.

The work is intended to generate site-specific data on solution movement through the mineralised regolith and the recovery of rare earth-bearing solutions. That makes the regulatory milestone useful primarily as a technical gateway, rather than evidence of imminent production. Axel's planned field ISR test was previously described as exploratory, with field performance, groundwater behaviour and economics still unproven, as reported in the earlier Woolrich ISR test.

Resource Base Gives the Test Scale

Woolrich carries a JORC 2012 Mineral Resource of 264.6 million tonnes at 1,101 parts per million total rare earth oxides, including a 110.1 million tonne Indicated component at 1,073ppm TREO. The resource upgrade, reported in September, more than doubled Woolrich's estimate and formed the geological basis for the next phase of field testing.

“Caladão Project showing the four defined Mineral Resource deposits, highlighting the Woolrich deposit.”

Woolrich is one of four defined deposits within Caladão's 708.6 million tonne global rare earths resource, which grades 1,443ppm TREO. Axel has also recently reported its first mixed rare earth carbonate from Woolrich column-leach solutions, linking the planned field programme to the company's existing laboratory and metallurgical work in the first Woolrich carbonate.

Further Approvals and Field Results Remain

The exemption applies only to State environmental licensing. Axel says it remains responsible for any other authorisations that may be needed, including matters involving permanent preservation areas, vegetation clearance and municipal requirements.

The next material test will therefore be operational rather than administrative: whether the magnesium sulphate solution can move through the Woolrich profile and produce recoverable rare earth-bearing liquor under representative field conditions. The announcement provides no production schedule, cost estimate or economic guidance, leaving those questions dependent on the programme's design and results.