Ausenco has been awarded the Pre-Feasibility Study on the Caldeira Project for Meteoric Resources NL (Meteoric). The Caldeira Project, a Tier 1 Ionic Clay Rare Earth Element (REE) project, is located in the Minas Gerais State of Brazil, approximately 270km north of São Paulo.
The project aims to be one of the lowest-cost producers of rare earths globally and to have the world's highest-grade ionic rare earth project of scale.
This contract marks a significant milestone in the ongoing partnership between Ausenco and Meteoric. It follows the successful completion of the Caldeira project’s Scoping and Trade-Off studies.
Ausenco will now support Meteoric’s next project phase and provide a Pre-Feasibility Study, delivering the initial engineering plans, capital and operational financial estimates and proposed project execution plan for designing, building and operating the mine.
Meteoric CEO, Nick Holthouse, said, “The signing of the Pre-Feasibility work package is another solid step forward in bringing the Tier 1 Caldeira project to market. We look forward to continuing the journey with Ausenco to deliver Caldeira as Brazil’s next Rare Earth Project.
Ausenco aims to optimise project capital and operating costs, maximise value, and ensure the project concept is financeable and executable in the current market.
The study will be led by Ausenco's highly experienced team in Perth, Australia. They will be supported by the company's global network of subject matter experts, including those from the company’s Belo Horizonte, Brazil office.
Ausenco President APAC/Africa, Minerals & Metals, Reuben Joseph, commented, "We are proud to help bring Meteoric’s mine to life. After successfully completing the Caldeira Scoping Study, our team are pleased to continue supporting Meteoric in delivering the Pre-Feasibility Study. Our project team has decades of experience finding better ways to plan, build and operate mines globally, including in South America, and we look forward to delivering this study."
About Ausenco
Ausenco is a global company redefining what's possible. The team is based across 26 offices in 15 countries delivering services worldwide. Combining deep technical expertise with a 30-year track record, Ausenco delivers innovative, value-add consulting studies, project delivery, asset operations and maintenance solutions to the minerals and metals and industrial sectors (www.ausenco.com).
About Meteoric Resources
Meteoric Resources NL (ASX : MEI) is a Perth based rare earth company that is progressing its flagship Caldeira Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil to becomes Brazil’s next rare earth producer. The Caldeira Project is a true Ionic Adsorbed Clay (IAC) deposit with above industry TREO grades and excellent metallurgical recoveries using a standard Ammonium Sulphate (AMSUL) wash flowsheet. These grade and recovery characteristics allow a simple flowsheet to be developed to produce a Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) with very low capital and operating costs. Meteoric is poised to become a significant volume, low-cost producer and is committed to supporting and integrating into western supply chain opportunities.
Media contact
Megan Clavelle, Vice President, Communications & Brand, Ausenco, megan.clavelle@ausenco.com