West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) Salazar scandium metallurgy suggests low-cost pathway

West Cobar Metals has reported a series of metallurgical results from its Salazar Critical Minerals Project in Western Australia, reinforcing the potential for a comparatively low-cost scandium development pathway.

The findings, spanning both recent and historical testwork, highlight shallow saprolite-hosted mineralisation and strong atmospheric-pressure recoveries as key features, distinguishing the Newmont deposit from other Australian scandium projects reliant on high-pressure and high-temperature processing.

Highlights

• Acid leaching at atmospheric pressure achieved scandium recoveries up to 81% at moderate temperatures of 95°C.
• Preliminary bioleaching screening tests achieved scandium extraction of up to 39% under atmospheric conditions.
• Salazar’s mineralisation is hosted in low-iron saprolitic clays, potentially simplifying recovery.
• The Newmont Inferred Resource comprises 15 Mt at 153 ppm Sc2O3 within the saprolite clay horizon.
• Ongoing testwork focuses on impurity rejection, acid consumption optimisation, and co-product integration with REE and Ti streams.

The Salazar project is located within the Albany Fraser Orogen’s Nornalup Zone, targeting regolith-hosted rare earth element-enriched saprolitic clays, and drilling is conducted with air core rigs, sampling every meter with QAQC protocols including blanks, duplicates, and certified reference materials.

Assays were conducted by Bureau Veritas Minerals laboratory using lithium borate fusion and ICP-AES or ICP-MS analysis depending on the element, ensuring total assay results for non-refractory and refractory minerals.

Historical and ongoing metallurgical studies, including Ti characterisation and heap-leach-style bioleaching, underpin assessment of extraction potential for scandium, rare earth elements, and TiO2.

Testwork at Nagrom in Australia demonstrated that atmospheric-pressure acid leaching could yield scandium recoveries of up to 81%, supporting the potential production of both a mixed rare earth carbonate and a purified scandium oxide product.

Complementary bioleaching tests conducted by BiotaTec in Estonia identified a microorganism that achieved 39% scandium extraction over 27 days and 34% within 96 hours under heap-leach style conditions, significantly outperforming rare earth element mobilisation, and these results will guide further bioleaching investigations at the Newmont deposit.

West Cobar Metals‘ Managing Director, Matt Szwedzicki, stated,

“The combination of strong scandium recoveries achieved under atmospheric conditions and shallow saprolite-hosted mineralisation supports the potential for a comparatively low-cost development pathway. The recent bioleaching results are particularly encouraging and will be advanced through further testwork”.

Salazar hosts additional resources including rare earth elements (230 Mt at 1,178 ppm TREO, including heavy rare earths such as Dy and Tb), TiO2 (42 Mt at 5.2% TiO2), Ga (263 Mt at 35 ppm Ga2O3), and alumina (4 Mt at 29.7% Al2O3).

These multi-commodity characteristics support co-product strategies and align with increasing demand in aerospace, defence, and advanced aluminium alloy sectors, while the shallow saprolite horizon, combined with atmospheric leach recoveries, may allow for lower capital intensity than conventional scandium projects.

West Cobar plans to establish a scandium oxide production pathway, integrate co-products into the flowsheet, continue metallurgical optimisation, and advance bioleaching research.

Further work includes additional AC drilling to infill and extend the Newmont resource, metallurgical testing using bulk samples, and progressing scoping and pre-feasibility studies, alongside engagement with U.S. critical minerals initiatives and potential funding pathways.

The combination of low-iron, saprolite-hosted mineralisation, robust metallurgical recoveries, and multi-commodity potential positions Salazar as a strategically significant asset within global critical minerals supply chains.

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