Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML), an advanced-stage rare earths exploration and development company, has announced positive results from a Scoping Study for its 100%-owned Tardiff Rare Earth Project in Northwest Territories, Canada. The study considered the advancement of Tardiff, a Rare Earth and Niobium project located in the NWT of Canada and 100% owned by Vital Metals. The study considers a hard rock starter open pit, extracting 15% of the total Tardiff Mineral Resource Estimate of 192.7Mt at 1.3% TREO. Adjacent deposits were not included in this study.
The Scoping Study highlights robust financial outcomes, including a pre-tax NPV of US$776 million and a 32% IRR, and a post-tax NPV of US$445 million and a 25.5% IRR. These figures are based on commodity pricing of US$90/kg for neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr), US$1322/kg for terbium (Tb), and US$338/Kg for dysprosium (Dy). The study estimates average annual production of 56kt of concentrate at a grade of 26.4% TREO and 3.3% NbO, with a 45.1% global TREO recovery over an initial 11-year mine life.
The study also projects average annual Rare Earth Element (REE) production of 2.9kt of Nd, 0.9kt of Pr, and less than 100 tons each of Dy and Tb. The pit design targets a daily production of 14,000 tpd with a very low 0.3:1 stripping ratio. The estimated capital cost is US$291 million (A$455 million), including a 35% contingency of US$68 million, while the operating cost is estimated at US$24/dry metric tonne mined, including a 20% contingency.
Vital Metals aims to build a Canadian supply chain for the project and will foster collaboration between industry, government, and technical partners through the Canadian Rare Earth Supply Chain Consortium. To potentially improve the project’s economics, the study recommends advancing to a prefeasibility study with additional metallurgical testing to optimise TREO and niobium recoveries, prove the payability of niobium, and test the recovery of zircon.
