- 01Axel targets first ISR field tests at Woolrich.
- 02Caladão hosts 708.6Mt REE and 575.68Mt gallium resources.
- 03Tests will assess leaching ahead of a scoping study.
Axel REE (ASX: AXL) has set out a development pathway for its Caladão rare earth elements and gallium project in Minas Gerais, with first in situ recovery (ISR) field tests at the Woolrich Deposit positioned as the next major technical step.
The Caladão mineral resource estimate now stands at 708.6 million tonnes at 1,443 parts per million total rare earth oxide (TREO), including 110.08Mt in the Indicated category at Woolrich.
A separate gallium MRE totals 575.68Mt at 37.05ppm, while the broader REE inventory contains about 1.02Mt of TREO and 21.3 kilotonnes of gallium metal.
Woolrich has been selected as the first ISR development target after column testing returned up to 560ppm soluble TREO and an assemblage containing about 39% magnet rare earth oxides.
Axel is progressing hydrogeological work, environmental studies, and permitting alongside further resource drilling before exploratory field tests and a scoping study.
Woolrich First Test Site
The first Woolrich field area sits within a mineralised footprint of about 2,000 hectares, where Axel has identified 12 potential wellfields and selected an initial site for exploratory ISR testing.
The field work is intended to test whether the leaching response demonstrated in column work can be repeated consistently in the ground while also examining hydraulic response, operating parameters, and the behaviour of the mineralised profile at larger scale.
Axel’s conceptual ISR route would circulate magnesium sulphate through modular wellfields, recover leach solution at surface, and remove impurities before producing mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) without conventional open pit mining, crushing, or milling.
The flowsheet remains conceptual because only bench-scale column test work has been completed, with field testing still required to determine whether the process can deliver the indicated outcomes under operating conditions.
Axel proposes a modular hub-and-spoke model in which satellite wellfields feed centralised processing infrastructure, allowing additional areas such as Paraíso and Tiger Creek to provide potential expansion inventory if the approach is validated.
Resource Scale Optionality
The latest Caladão MRE comprises 598.51Mt of Inferred material at 1,512ppm TREO, along with the 110.08Mt of Indicated material at Woolrich.
Axel has positioned gallium as a separate potential development pathway alongside its core REE strategy, with the current resource containing an estimated 21.3kt of gallium metal across the Inferred and Indicated categories.
Beyond Caladão, the Caldas Project covers 232 square kilometres and includes Caldas South, where magnesium sulphate leach assays have identified a second potential ISR area within a laterally continuous ionic adsorption clay system.
The company’s stated roadmap places exploratory field tests ahead of a scoping study designed to provide the first integrated technical and economic view of the project, with environmental studies and permitting continuing in parallel.
Get the wire before the market opens.
The ASX small-cap stories that matter, filed before 9am AEST. Curated by the Small Caps desk.