US-based, vertically integrated producer of advanced materials and critical mineral solutions Ionic Mineral Technologies (Ionic MT) has announced the results of an independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Silicon Ridge project in Utah, in the US.

The PEA, prepared by SGS, outlines a project with an after-tax net present value (NPV) of about $12.1-billion, an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 69% and a 1.5-year payback period.

The PEA outlines a project designed to produce a diversified portfolio of advanced materials, rare earths and critical minerals from a single domestic resource.

Rather than depending on a single commodity, Silicon Ridge is expected to generate value across alumina products, amorphous nano-silica and 19 individually valued critical minerals and rare earth elements – each named on the US government’s critical minerals list – including gallium, germanium, rubidium, caesium and 13 rare earth oxides (REO).

Ionic MT says the diversified production model underpins more than $92-billion in projected life-of-mine (LoM) gross revenue over an initial 44-year operating plan.

The company notes that about 51% of LoM value will be from alumina products spanning high-purity, specialty, chemical-grade and smelter-grade tiers, serving automotive, aerospace and advanced materials sectors, with the balance of LoM value from defence-critical elements such as rubidium, caesium, gallium, germanium, REO, plus amorphous nano-silica – an impressive diversified product suite from a single deposit.

Site operating costs are estimated bottom-up at about $123/t of feed processed – including contractor mining confirmed by quotation and a full reagent make-up allowance – with no by-product cost credits applied to any product.

The company explains that the project's after-tax NPV remains robust and positive across every sensitivity case evaluated.

The NPV is calculated over a 44-year initial operating life at a two-million-tonne-a-year production rate – a schedule set by defensible market assumptions rather than by the resource or processing capability, which can be adjusted upward significantly by minor non-proportional scaling of capital expenditure.

Because later-year cash flows are heavily discounted, the company notes that about 72% of the after-tax NPV is generated in the first 20 years of the plan; the remaining 24 years of scheduled production, and all resource beyond the plan, contribute comparatively little to the headline figure.

Moreover, Ionic MT explains that Silicon Ridge's clay-based hydrometallurgical route does not generate the caustic red-mud tailings that characterise conventional Bayer-process alumina refining from bauxite – a structural environmental advantage for a domestic alumina producer.

Rather, the company says the native process is clean, with virtually no tailings waste and favours the production of high-purity alumina specialties.

Additionally, the maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) – 83.2-million tonnes indicated and 247-million tonnes inferred for about 330-million tonnes in total – is defined on less than 10% of the about 12 000 acre Silicon Ridge district.

The company explains that the project is designed to produce, in the US, a suite of minerals for which the country is currently import-reliant – including gallium and germanium, both subject to Chinese export restrictions announced in December 2024; rare earth elements, several of which – including terbium, dysprosium and yttrium – became subject to Chinese export licensing controls announced in April 2025; and rubidium and caesium, whose global mine supply is concentrated in a single foreign-controlled producer.

“The PEA marks an important milestone for Ionic MT and validates years of technical work at Silicon Ridge,” says founder and CEO Andre Zeitoun.

He adds that the results outline a long-life, capital-efficient US critical minerals and advanced-materials platform supported by a diversified product suite and the project’s maiden MRE.

He says the study demonstrates the potential for Silicon Ridge to become a material domestic source of alumina, rare earths and several other strategically important critical minerals, including gallium, germanium, rubidium and caesium, from a single mineral deposit using one processing platform.

“Silicon Ridge, together with our operating, processing and laboratory facility in Provo, provides a strong foundation for the next phase of technical, strategic, government and financing discussions.”