IMC Rare Earths Recovers 71% of Dysprosium and Terbium at Itarantim-Now Comes the Hard Part

Highlights

• IMC reports 71.4% terbium and 70.5% dysprosium recovery in laboratory tests at the Itarantim ionic-adsorption-clay project in Brazil.
• University of Brighton testing supports investigating in-situ recovery, which could eliminate large-scale excavation and tailings infrastructure if proven at field scale.
• Itarantim holds 1.1 billion tonnes of Inferred Resource at 1,233 ppm TREO, but the entire resource remains Inferred with no demonstrated economic viability.
• Key risks include unproven field-scale ISR hydrogeology, pre-revenue status, no employees, and significant related-party conflicts including a founder-controlled offtake covering up to 75% of production plus a 3.5% perpetual royalty.
• Next steps are hydrogeological studies and field injection and recovery trials that could begin separating a large resource from a commercially viable project.

IMC Rare Earths (opens in a new tab) (NYSE American: IMC) reports laboratory recovery of 73% of tested rare earths excluding cerium, including 71.4% terbium and 70.5% dysprosium, from Brazil’s Itarantim Project. More important, University of Brighton testing supports investigating in-situ recovery (ISR)—potentially extracting rare earths through wells rather than excavating enormous volumes of clay. The chemistry is encouraging; field-scale recovery remains unproven.

REEx Insight: A Giant Resource Has Reached the Metallurgy Gate

Investors should understand where Itarantim actually stands. IMC has delineated approximately 1.1 billion tonnes of Inferred Resource averaging 1,233 ppm TREO, but Inferred resources have no demonstrated economic viability. The project remains pre-production and must still advance resource confidence, metallurgy, engineering, permitting, and economics.

That makes today’s results meaningful—but not yet project validation. In Great Powers Era 2.0™, Itarantim is strategically interesting because its resource contains Nd, Pr, Dy, and Tb, while Western vulnerability is especially acute in heavy rare earths. If ISR works, IMC could potentially bypass much conventional excavation and tailings infrastructure. But ISR turns mining into a hydrogeological engineering problem. Permeability, fluid distribution, recovery-well capture, clay migration, reagent consumption, and groundwater containment must work at field scale. Laboratory recovery alone cannot answer those questions.

73% Is a Milestone, Not a Mine

The tests also produced mixed rare-earth carbonate and oxide, while uranium and thorium remained below detection limits in tested leachates. Next come hydrogeological work and field injection/recovery trials—the tests that could begin separating a giant resource from a viable project.

Corporate Profile

IMC Rare Earths Ltd. (NYSE American: IMC) is a newly public, pre-revenue rare-earth exploration company centered almost entirely on the Itarantim ionic-adsorption-clay project in Bahia and Minas Gerais, Brazil. The operating business traces to Brazilian subsidiary Niobium Brazil Importação e Exportação Ltda., established in 2022; the current Cayman Islands parent was incorporated in September 2025. Itarantim comprises 27 exploration permits covering roughly 452 km² and reports 1.1 billion metric tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resource averaging 1,233 ppm TREO, including NdPr, Dy, and Tb. Importantly, the entire resource remains Inferred and the company describes Itarantim as an exploration—not development-stage—property. IMC had no employees as of March 31, 2026, relying on contractors for exploration, and says it has no operating revenue.

IMC completed its NYSE American IPO in July 2026, raising $20 million gross at $5 per share. Founder, Chairman and CEO Francesco Scolaro (opens in a new tab) remains the dominant shareholder: SEC filings projected him and affiliated entities to beneficially own roughly 68% after the offering, giving him substantial influence over corporate decisions. Financing before the IPO was heavily insider-linked. IMC reported a $2.9 million interest-free Scolaro loan at March 31, 2026, while St. James Place invested $5 million and received equity plus warrants; amended SJP warrants can ultimately represent 15% of fully diluted equity, although post-IPO exercise is constrained by a 9.99% beneficial-ownership ceiling. The original warrant instrument provided for 5 million warrants at $15 each, potentially generating up to $75 million upon exercise.

The most consequential investor footnote is the related-party economics surrounding Itarantim. A company controlled by Scolaro, Mineradora Havilah, holds an offtake covering 50% of Itarantim production plus an option for another 25%, as well as a 3.5% perpetual royalty on gross proceeds; the offtake includes specified step-in rights, and the royalty can potentially be exchanged for IMC shares, cash, or both. The SEC prospectus (opens in a new tab) explicitly identifies these arrangements as potential conflicts of interest. Thus IMC offers exposure to an unusually large Brazilian ionic-clay resource with potentially valuable HREE content, but it remains an early-stage, pre-revenue, highly concentrated exploration company whose metallurgy, field-scale recovery, permitting, project economics, and related-party structure all require close investor scrutiny.