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Highlights
- Critica’s Jupiter project confirms ability to produce high-grade rare earth oxide concentrates with over 800% uplift in concentration.
- Project features Australia’s largest clay-hosted rare earth resource with low thorium and uranium content, enhancing environmental compliance.
- Strategic location and diverse rare earth mix position the project as a potential attractive investment in critical minerals development.
ASX-listed Critica Limited (opens in a new tab) (ASX: CRI) has announced a major milestone in the development of its flagship Jupiter rare earth project, located in Western Australia’s Yalgoo region. The latest metallurgical test work confirms Jupiter’s capacity to produce high-grade rare earth oxide (REO) concentrates—including strategic heavy rare earth oxides (HREO)—through conventional, low-cost beneficiation.
According to the Critica press release and MarketScreener coverage, test work by Vietnam’s Centre for Science and Technology of Mineral Resources and Environment (opens in a new tab) (CSTMRE) achieved upgraded concentrate grades of:
- 1.5% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO),
- 1,400 ppm HREO, and
- 5,200 ppm combined NdPr+HREO
from a feed grade of just 1,900 ppm TREO, marking an over 800% uplift and an impressive ~95% mass reduction.
Critica’s Jupiter deposit, already the largest clay-hosted rare earth resource in Australia (1.8 billion tonnes at 1,700 parts per million TREO), contains a high-grade core of 500 million tonnes at 2,200 parts per million TREO. This could shift if peers like OD6 or Australian Rare Earths update their estimates. The qualifier is valid per the current public disclosure. The mineralogy is unusually clean, exhibiting low levels of thorium and uranium, making it attractive for permitting and environmental compliance.
CEO Jacob Deysel (opens in a new tab) highlighted the ESG and economic upside of the mass reduction: “It directly strengthens project economics, cuts costs, and advances our transition from explorer to developer.”
Why This Matters for Investors:
- Rare Earth Mix: Jupiter contains both light (Nd, Pr) and heavy (Dy, Tb) rare earths—critical for permanent magnets in EVs and defense tech.
- Strategic Location: Proximity to Lynas (Mt Weld) and Iluka (Eneabba) raises questions: Could Critica be an M&A target or supply partner?
- Iron Ore Bonus? The byproduct stream includes 67% Fe concentrate, raising the prospect of a dual-revenue model.
Unanswered Questions:
- Can the company secure the capital requirements to develop its assets?
- Will Critica secure a downstream offtake partner for HREOs, or will it remain vulnerable to China’s separation monopoly?
- Is the beneficiation performance replicable at scale in variable clays across the broader Brothers Project?
- Can Critica leap from lab to leach and ultimately to REE carbonate production fast enough to capitalize on rising Western demand?
Note Critica is not generating meaningful revenue (just AUD 177k in trailing 12-month revenue) and is deeply unprofitable, with negative EBITDA (-6.46M AUD) and no net income. This aligns with a pre-production mining company focused on exploration and early-stage development—in this case, the Jupiter clay-hosted rare earths project.
Operational Profile: Its main value lies in resource definition, metallurgy, and potential project advancement—not in cash flow or mining output.
Source: Critica Limited Press Release (16 July 2025) via InvestorHub (opens in a new tab); MarketScreener (15 July 2025) – “Critica: Advances Jupiter – Outstanding Magnet and HREO Grades.”
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