IperionX commissions Stage 2 of Mineral Demonstration Facility
IperionX Limited, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, has successfully commissioned Stage 2 of its Mineral Demonstration Facility (MDF) at the Titan Project in Tennessee to produce a critical mineral concentrate rich in titanium and rare earth minerals. The MDF operation is said to be an important element in IperionX’s outreach to a range of stakeholders. It also highlights the low impact, sustainable nature of potential future operations at the Titan Project.
Stage 1 of the processing facility involved fine particle removal (< 45 microns) via water, utilising hydro-cyclones, to produce a product ready heavy mineral wet concentration. The Stage 2 processing upgrade consists of a series of water gravity spirals which separate valuable heavy minerals into titanium, zircon and rare earth concentrate.
A final upgrade, Stage 3, is expected to be commissioned later this year and will employ flotation and magnetic separation to produce separated rare earth mineral, zircon and titanium products. These products will be used in an effort to accelerate customer offtake negotiations and a feedstock for IperionX’s R&D projects across low-carbon synthetic rutile and titanium metal production.
IperionX is said to have significantly advanced the Titan Project feasibility study metallurgical test work, including optimisation flotation test work for rare earth minerals, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2022. The company is also evaluating a low-capital, phased development approach for the Titan project that is hoped to reduce upfront capex, lower execution risk and potentially accelerate the permit application timeline.
“We are committed to developing a world class critical minerals operation in Tennessee that will play an important role in sustainably re-shoring American jobs and supply chains,” stated Anastasios (Taso) Arima, CEO and Managing Director. “The successful commissioning of the second stage of our Mineral Demonstration Facility is an important milestone to this commitment, and provides a new platform to accelerate our customer engagement as well as educating our stakeholders and the broader community of the low impact, sustainable nature of potential operations in the region.”
