Australia’s Everest Metals Corporation (EMC) has received a significant boost for its Mt Edon project in Western Australia. The backing comes from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), which has granted A$150,000 to advance the extraction and purification of rubidium, a key critical mineral in multiple technology industries.
Towards rubidium chloride production
The funding is part of the METS Innovation program, which seeks to accelerate the development of technologies applicable to mining. The objective of the project is to validate a system capable of producing rubidium chloride with 95% purity in a constant and scalable manner.
The program will start in September and will have the technical participation of Edith Cowan University, through its Mineral Recovery Research Centre (MRRC), which will provide research and laboratory testing support.
In addition, the company has already initiated advanced studies in collaboration with the national scientific agency CSIRO to characterize the rubidium, lithium and cesium deposits at Mt Edon.
More details on the Mt Edon project
Mt Edon is located about 420 km northeast of Perth and has an inferred resource estimate of 3.6 million tonnes grading 0.22% Rb2O. EMC plans to develop a commercial pilot plant using a direct extraction process (DRE), provisionally patented in February this year.
Interest in rubidium has grown due to its application in telecommunications, defense technologies, advanced electronic devices and hydrogen batteries. Despite its high commercial value, its global supply is limited, with China as the main supplier.
Source: Everest Metals
Photo: shutterstock
