West Cobar Metals has seen its rare-earth mineral resource at the Salazar deposit near Esperance in Western Australia increase fourfold.
　　Based on a cut-off grade of 0.06% total rare earth oxides (TREO), the resource estimate for the Salazar project has increased from the previous 43.5 million tons at 0.1192% to 190 million tons at 0.1172%.
　　Among these, the Newmont deposit has reserves of 83 million tons with a grade of 0.1117%; the O'Connor deposit has initial reserves of 107 million tons, with a grade of 0.1216%.
　　The currently estimated resource amount is considered to be Australia’s only clay-type rare-earth resource to date.
　　The project has been underway for eight years. Matt Szwedzicki, manager at Sikobal Metals, believes this is one of the largest clay-type rare-earth deposits in Australia with significant exploration potential.
　　Svidetsky believes that the mere increase in resource volume is already “remarkable,” but even more significant is the high grade—specifically, the magnetic rare-earth elements (praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium) account for as much as 25%.
　　The company found that, compared with other clay-type rare-earth deposits, the Xinfeng deposit has relatively higher concentrations of dysprosium and terbium.
　　Compared to the Xinfeng deposit, the O’Connor deposit has a higher praseodymium content but a lower dysprosium and terbium content. The initial resource estimate for this deposit is based solely on 54 air drill holes with wide spacing; geophysical data suggest that the resource estimate could increase further.
　　Preliminary beneficiation tests indicate that, under lower acidity and temperature conditions, the conventional leaching-extraction method can achieve a recovery rate of 94% for magnetite-based rare earths.
　　The company will continue to conduct economic evaluations of ore dressing. The estimated resource quantities will serve as the basis for the preliminary economic evaluation and feasibility study.