Highlights

• Century Lithium reports achieving >97% recovery of rare earth elements from lithium leach solutions at its Angel Island claystone project, though no grades, tonnage, or revenue modeling has been disclosed.
• While the REE recovery is technically plausible, the company's $3.16B NPV feasibility study is entirely lithium-driven with no economic contribution modeled from REE by-products.
• Investors should treat REE recovery as speculative upside rather than core valuation, as the modest concentrations and unproven commercial scale limit near-term impact on U.S. critical mineral supply chains.

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Century Lithium’s (opens in a new tab) latest announcement (opens in a new tab)—achieving >97% recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from its lithium leach solutions at the Angel Island project (opens in a new tab)—arrives with unmistakable ambition. The company says it can extract dysprosium, neodymium, gadolinium, praseodymium, scandium, lanthanum, and cerium without compromising lithium recovery. For a claystone lithium developer with a market cap hovering around C$50 million, that is no small claim. The testwork, if scalable, could sweeten project economics and further align Angel Island with U.S. critical-mineral policy priorities.

The company’s December 2025 corporate presentation, (opens in a new tab) based on a Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) review, confirms Angel Island is an advanced project: a billion-tonne clay resource, a planned 35,000 tpa lithium carbonate operation, and a FAST-41 transparency status in the U.S. permitting system. But integrating a REE by-product circuit into an already complex chloride-leach plus DLE flowsheet is another matter entirely.

Century Lithium Angel Island Project

What’s Real—and What We Can Actually Validate

Century Lithium does have a serious technical bench. Its demonstration plant, now relocated to Tonopah, has repeatedly produced battery-grade lithium carbonate using Angel Island claystone feed. The chloride-leach system naturally concentrates other cations, making REE recovery chemically plausible. Ion-exchange selectivity above 97% is achievable in controlled conditions, especially for low-volume streams.

It is also true that Angel Island’s leachate contains measurable REE content; the company has previously disclosed REE assays in metallurgical updates. Selective extraction of those elements without lithium losses would be a legitimate process milestone.

But investors must separate metallurgical possibility from economic materiality. The REE concentrations are modest, and the corporate deck provides no grades, no tonnage contribution, and no revenue modeling for REEs—meaning the REE “opportunity” is still conceptual, not economic.

Where the Narrative Stretches Into Wishful Thinking

The press release positions REEs as potential value drivers. Yet Angel Island’s feasibility economics—NPV US$3.16 billion, IRR 17.2%, Phase 1 CAPEX US$1.58 billion—are overwhelmingly driven by lithium. No line item includes REE credits, for good reason: they are unproven, low-grade, and unmodeled.

And while management rightly notes alignment with North American critical-mineral strategy, Washington’s priority is magnet-grade feedstock—not trace concentrations recovered as a side stream from claystone leach solutions. There is, at this stage, no published evidence that Angel Island can economically deliver magnet-relevant REE products at scale.

Century Lithium is not obviously trying to mislead, but the timing—during a difficult financing environment and ahead of multi-billion-dollar capital decisions—invites healthy skepticism. REE storylines often surface when lithium juniors need to broaden their narrative.

The Strategic Lens: Interesting Science, Limited Sector Impact (for Now)

Make no mistake—any domestic REE recovery is welcome. But this technical step will not meaningfully move the needle for U.S. magnet supply chains. Without demonstrated REE tonnage, separation capability, and real offtake agreements, the REE side-stream remains a technical curiosity, not a geopolitical solution.

For investors, the signal is simple: treat REE recovery as upside optionality—never as core valuation.

REEx evaluates Century Lithium’s REE-recovery claims using the company’s press release, corporate presentation, and public financial data. It separates metallurgical plausibility from commercial significance, highlights where the narrative runs ahead of the engineering, and clarifies why the REE by-product concept has limited strategic impact on U.S. rare earth supply chains—for now.

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