TSX-listed rare earths developer Aclara Resources and its joint venture (JV) partner CAP have launched a demonstration plant to develop the technology to produce rare earth metals and alloys at CAP’s Huachipato steelworks in Talcahuano, Chile.

Aclara says the technology draws on the metallurgical knowledge and experience accumulated over decades at the Huachipato steelworks.

Using a molten salt electrolysis process, the demonstration plant will convert neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxides into metals and alloys. The facility is expected to validate this technology at industrial scale and under real operating conditions.

It has been designed for a nominal production capacity of up to 175 kg of rare earth metal a day, with a target purity of at least 99.5%.

Aclara Metals – a JV between CAP and Aclara Resources – says it is also evaluating a second demonstration stage, following completion of the NdPr production stage, that would add dysprosium (Dy) oxide to produce an NdPrDy alloy.

The demonstration plant will operate through production campaigns that are expected to validate its ability to produce metals and alloys under stable, continuous industrial conditions while meeting the quality specifications required by potential international customers.

These campaigns are also expected to build operating experience and help train the teams involved in the future industrial facility.

Results based on real-world data from the demonstration plant are also expected to provide critical technical and operational inputs for the basic engineering for Aclara Metals' future industrial project in Louisiana, in the US.

The company says this data will also be used to develop and refine predictive digital models that are aimed at optimising the process and supporting a more stable and efficient operation of the electrolysis cells.

The detailed design of the industrial-scale electrolysis cell has been developed entirely by teams from Aclara Metals and Huachipato.

With no established industrial standards for this metallurgical process to metallise rare earths, Aclara Metals says its internally developed know-how represents a high-value technological asset.

The initiative is part of Aclara and CAP's strategy to advance toward an integrated, traceable and sustainable rare earth value chain, spanning extraction and separation through to the production of metals and alloys.

In Chile, extraction will take place at the Penco Module, the country's first rare earth deposit.

CAP board chairperson Jorge Salvatierra describes this plant as a concrete example of how the capabilities and knowledge developed over decades at Huachipato can be extended into new industries.

“We are combining metallurgical experience, infrastructure and talent with new technological capabilities to innovate from Chile and to take part in a critical minerals value chain linked to the energy transition.

“It is also the kind of project we seek to drive as part of Huachipato's industrial transition, finding new uses for existing capabilities and opening space for knowledge- and innovation-intensive initiatives,” he says.

Aclara CEO Ramón Barúa adds that this demonstration plant marks another important step in Aclara's development of an integrated rare earth supply chain, noting that it complements the company’s concentration pilot plants in Chile and Brazil and its separation pilot plant in Virginia, in the US.

With the addition of metallisation and alloy production capabilities, Barúa says Aclara is advancing toward an end-to-end technology and production platform integrating mining, concentration, separation, metallisation and alloy production.

“This completes a value chain that is critical to establishing a secure Western source of both heavy and light rare earths,” he says.

Meanwhile, Aclara Metals GM Álvaro Castellón says rare earth metallisation is a scarce, almost nonexistent technology in the West.

“This demonstration plant will allow us to replicate one of the four processes that make up metallisation, generating concrete learnings that will complement the engineering work already underway as we advance toward a future industrial plant in the US.

“Huachipato's metallurgical experience, together with the drive and conviction of CAP and Aclara, has created a unique combination that lets us move quickly and deliver concrete results,” says Castellón.