European rare earths developer Critical Metals has highlighted promising developments at its flagship Tanbreez project in Greenland, where exploration teams have discovered two high-grade areas previously excluded from the development strategy.
Promising acquisition
Critical Metals acquired a controlling stake in Tanbreez in June, positioning it as a potentially transformative project for North America’s rare earths supply chain. The Tanbreez deposit is the largest rare earth resource in the world by total resource count, boasting 28.2 million tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO) within 4.7 billion tonnes of material. Drilling commenced last month, involving 14 holes with a total length of up to 2,200 metres. The goal of this drilling program is to upgrade the Tanbreez resource to US SEC standards and enhance mine throughput. The team is currently cutting and preparing drill core samples for testing.
New discoveries
In a recent update, Critical Metals reported that its exploration team examined three areas with high-grade rare earth material during the previous field season. Notably, two of these areas—Horizon Zero and EALS—were not initially considered for mining. Horizon Zero exhibited limited testing results of about 5% zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), while EALS is located above the designated mining unit. The third area contained high-grade, coarse-grained pegmatites near the proposed tailings site’s access road.
With this new data, Critical Metals plans to mine run-of-the-mill ore at grades of 1.7-1.9% ZrO2, aiming to produce a concentrate with 10% ZrO2, 2.5% rare earth oxides (30% heavy REO), 1.0% Nb2O5, and 0.15% Ta2O5 and HfO2 for about eight months of the year, from late spring to mid-autumn. During winter months, the company aims to improve cost-effectiveness by reducing labor and electricity consumption while maintaining production levels.
Strategic partnerships
To support its production goals, Critical Metals has initiated discussions with Nukissiorfiit, the Greenland government’s electric company, to secure a reliable and sustainable power source for the annual production of up to 3 tonnes of rare earth materials.
As a result of these developments, shares of Critical Metals rose 3.5% during midday trading on NASDAQ, reaching $6.45, with a market capitalization of $526.45 million. The company operates as a unit of European Lithium.
