Lindian Resources has successfully ticked off another key technical milestone for its Kangankunde rare earths project in Malawi. Metallurgical testwork by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) independently validated the company’s full downstream processing route and confirmed a 98 per cent neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) extraction result.
The latest work tested Kangankunde concentrate all the way through a conventional sulphuric acid bake, water leach, impurity removal and carbonate precipitation circuit to produce specification mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC).
Importantly for Lindian, ANSTO certified the final MREC product as exempt from radioactive transport and handling under International Atomic Energy Agency standards, with uranium, thorium and associated decay-chain radionuclides below analytical detection limits.
The result extends ANSTO’s earlier February certification of Kangankunde concentrate as exempt from Class 7 radioactive transport requirements.
The validation program also returned 96 per cent total rare earth plus yttrium (TREY) extraction and up to 96 per cent overall NdPr recovery from concentrate through to final MREC. Additionally. impurity removal losses were limited to an estimated 1.1 per cent, a strong reflection of the efficient, high-recovery process.
ANSTO’s largest acid bake test produced the best result in the program, including a TREY pregnant leach solution of 21.1 grams per litre. The findings point to higher rare earth concentrations, potentially enabling processing with smaller downstream equipment, reduced solution volumes, and lower water and reagent use.
Lindian Resources executive director Zac Komur said: "These results mark the successful completion of ANSTO's downstream metallurgical program and represent the technical validation required to support Kangankunde's ambition to become one of the world's leading downstream monazite projects, subject to implementation at the SARECO facility.”
Lindian says the validated process is directly transferable to its newly acquired SARECO processing facility in Kazakhstan, where the same conventional sulphuric acid circuit is installed. The company has previously flagged SARECO as a cornerstone of its downstream strategy, while an established sulphuric acid supply arrangement is expected to underpin future MREC production.
The announcement comes as Lindian continues pushing Kangankunde towards development. Earlier this month, the company completed its first production blast at the project, fragmenting an estimated 13,100 tonnes of material, including 5500 tonnes of ore and noted that active mining had begun ahead of process plant commissioning.
A late-June construction update showed Kangankunde continuing to gather momentum, with a 27-kilometre power corridor completed, tailings storage facility construction halfway finished and 27,000 tonnes of ore already stockpiled on the run-of-mine pad.
Lindian has also shifted its global marketing effort in-house through a new Singapore office designed to manage sales, logistics, pricing, tolling options and customer engagement for both monazite concentrate and MREC products.
With ANSTO having now ticked off the metallurgical pathway, the radioactive classification and the recoveries, Lindian has added another plank to its plan to transition Kangankunde from development into a low-radiation, high-grade rare earths supply chain.
The next big test is execution. For now, the company looks to be stacking the pieces in the right order, with the massive project remaining on schedule for first production in Q4 2026, following front-end commissioning targeted for October and practical completion slated for mid-November this year.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
