Geomega provides update on rare earth recycling demonstration plant

Geomega Resources Inc., Montreal, has provided an update on the construction of its rare earth recycling demonstration plant in St. Bruno, Quebec, and other research and development initiatives of the corporation. The company reports that detailed engineering for the demonstration plant is progressing well by both external and in-house engineers.

Since the completion of the pilot test work in January at the National Resource Council Canada facility in Boucherville, Quebec, the engineers have been reviewing all the test work and results in order to complete and update process computational models, stream tables, process flow diagrams, heat and mass balance, process design criteria, process control logic and diagrams, operating schedule, off-gas handling and the associated safety reviews.

According to a news release from Geomega, initial quotes for plant equipment have been received and are being updated regularly. With technology selection complete, the company will proceed to ordering equipment as soon as engineering work is finalized along with equipment design review. The company says procurement is expected to take place in the fall of 2021.

Geomega reports that work over the last six months has demonstrated that the company’s technology can be scaled up to the demonstration plant. During regular operation of the plant, it will not be producing liquid effluent and will be able to produce a boron and a cobalt compound as byproducts. An internal study has demonstrated the low greenhouse gas impact in comparison with conventional mining.

The company is continuing to perform lab work on various magnet feeds from different magnet manufacturers with a goal of ensuring that the technology can treat the multitude of chemistries and sources that will need to be processed as the demonstration plant capacity ramps up from 1.5 metric tons per day to 4.5 metric tons per day. Geomega has been working on four different magnet residue samples provided by large magnet manufacturers in Japan and western manufacturers operating in China. With magnet residue samples representing one of the largest potential supply streams in the future, testing the various streams was important to evaluate the recoveries and economics. Each manufacturer’s stream has its own peculiarities, and Geomega proposed and tested a pretreatment method where needed. The company concluded that the rare earth recycling technology is “robust” and will be able to treat the various streams.

Research and development (R&D) on other streams of critical and strategic metals is continuing as well. With its technical team tripling in size over the last 18 months, Geomega says part of the team is dedicated to the demonstration plant work while the rest of the team is working in parallel to leverage gained expertise and apply it to other potential feeds along with its Montviel rare earths project.

Following up on the work with bauxite residues, which continues to advance, the company is now applying its iron-friendly processing technology on streams that could provide raw materials to other key industries that require critical metals, such as lithium-ion batteries, in a more sustainable way.

“Creating new sustainable technology to recycle rare earths is challenging and our team of researchers and engineers has been successfully completing the required tasks with the goal of establishing a solid foundation for our demonstration plant in order for it to become a success,” says Kiril Mugerman, president and CEO of Geomega. “With the engineering work advancing and as we are nearing procurement, our R&D team is now constantly testing the potential of our technology and establishing the foundation to ensure the long-term growth vision for Geomega and its shareholders. Being fully funded for construction, we are focused on reaching production from the demonstration plant which will serve as the backbone of our technology as we gradually try to apply it to Montviel, bauxite residues and other materials.”