Axel REE Maps ISR Development Pathway for Caladão Rare Earths Project

Axel REE (ASX: AXL) has outlined a staged development strategy centred on applying in-situ recovery (ISR) to its large Caladão rare earths and gallium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The company is progressing from laboratory column testing toward field-scale validation at the Woolrich deposit, which has been selected as the first target area for an ISR recovery trial.

Caladão currently hosts an inferred rare earth resource of 572 million tonnes at 1,502 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO), alongside an inferred gallium resource of 439Mt at 38ppm.

Axel’s immediate objective is to build the technical, environmental, and regulatory evidence required to advance toward trial mining and an initial economic assessment.

Large Ionic Clay Resource

The Caladão rare earth resource contains approximately 861,000t of TREO across Area A and the Marambaia, Tiger Creek, and Woolrich deposits.

Area A accounts for 233Mt at 2,143ppm TREO, while the combined Area B deposits contain 339Mt at 1,075ppm.

Woolrich hosts 128Mt at 1,013ppm TREO, and has been selected as the anchor deposit for the first field trial because of its scale, metallurgical response, and potential suitability for modular development.

Resource upgrade drilling is under way as Axel seeks to improve confidence in selected areas and support future development studies.

ISR Strategy Takes Shape

ISR involves circulating a leaching solution through mineralised clay using wellfields and recovering the rare earth-bearing solution at surface.

Axel proposes to use magnesium sulphate as the lixiviant before removing impurities and precipitating a mixed rare earth carbonate product.

The approach would avoid conventional open-pit mining, crushing, and milling, while potentially reducing surface disturbance, capital requirements, and operating complexity.

The proposed flowsheet remains conceptual and has so far been assessed only through bench-scale column testing, meaning field trials are required before its technical or economic performance can be established.

Proof-of-Concept Evidence

Column testing at Woolrich that recovered up to 560ppm soluble TREO provided proof-of-concept evidence supporting progression toward field validation.

Approximately 39% of the recovered rare earth basket comprised magnet rare earth oxides including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.

Axel also reported low concentrations of aluminium, iron, thorium, and uranium in the leach solution, which could reduce downstream impurity removal and regulatory complexity if repeated at larger scale.

The ongoing test program will help refine reagent selection, recovery assumptions, operating parameters and inputs for subsequent field and economic studies.

Woolrich Field Trial Planned

Woolrich covers an approximately 2,000-hectare mineralised footprint within which Axel has identified 12 potential wellfield areas.

The first wellfield will be used to test whether the laboratory recovery response can be reproduced under in-ground conditions.

Field work will assess solution movement, rare earth recovery, reagent performance, hydrogeological behaviour, and environmental controls.

The company expects the trial to provide the technical bridge between column testing and a potential trial mining pathway.

Modular Development Model

Axel is evaluating a hub-and-spoke model under which satellite wellfields could feed a centralised surface processing facility.

This structure could allow production capacity to grow incrementally by adding wellfields rather than committing immediately to large fixed mining and processing infrastructure.

Woolrich would form the initial development hub, with Paraíso and Tiger Creek providing potential expansion inventory if further work supports development.

Additional processing hubs could ultimately be introduced across the broader Caladão system, although the scale and configuration remain subject to technical validation and future studies.

Additional Gallium Upside

Caladão’s inferred gallium resource contains an estimated 16,700t of metal, giving Axel exposure to a commodity used in semiconductors, telecommunications, AI hardware, and various defence technologies.

The resource comprises 100Mt at 42ppm gallium in Area A and 339Mt at 36.6ppm in Area B.

Axel is treating gallium as a separate future development opportunity alongside the core rare earth ISR pathway.

Further metallurgical work will be required to establish whether gallium can be recovered economically, either with rare earths or through a standalone process.

Technical Roadmap Defined

Near-term work includes further column testing and production of an initial mixed rare earth carbonate sample.

Resource upgrade drilling will continue alongside finalisation of the ISR field trial design and advancement of environmental and permitting activities.

The subsequent stages involve commencing the field trial, establishing a modular development pathway, and updating the mineral resource with new drilling information.

Axel intends to use the resulting technical data to plan a scoping study, which would represent the project’s first major economic assessment.