West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) advances Salazar with heap leach pathway supported by testwork

West Cobar Metals has reported metallurgical testwork outcomes from its Salazar Critical Minerals Project in Western Australia, with results supporting a potential low-cost heap leach processing pathway.

The work centres on evaluating leaching performance and ore characteristics across a large, near-surface saprolite-hosted system located approximately 120 km north-east of Esperance.

Highlights

• Metallurgical testwork supports a potential heap leach processing pathway
• Sulphuric acid leaching delivers strong rare earth recoveries, including up to 69% TREE+Y extraction under initial conditions
• Agglomeration and percolation testing confirm favourable heap leach characteristics
• Resource includes 230 Mt at 1,178 ppm TREO, with elevated heavy rare earths including Dy and Tb
• Metallurgical program advancing toward a scoping study targeted for CY2026

The latest testwork focused on reagent selection and heap leach suitability, confirming that sulphuric acid can achieve comparable or improved rare earth extraction relative to hydrochloric acid, while also presenting a cost-effective alternative.

Baseline leach results demonstrated up to 69% TREE+Y extraction under initial test conditions, with consistent responses observed across both upper and lower saprolite composites.

From a processing perspective, preliminary heap leach testing indicates favourable permeability and percolation rates exceeding minimum flow requirements, alongside stable material behaviour during slump testing.

These outcomes indicate characteristics consistent with heap leach processing, supporting a potential simplified processing development pathway, noting that results are preliminary and subject to further optimisation.

The Salazar Project comprises the Newmont and O’Connor deposits and covers an area of 560 km².

The system is hosted in a shallow saprolite profile enriched over amphibolite, with mineralisation amenable to low-strip, low-cost open-pit mining and potential low-cost processing methods, and is located on state land with proximity to existing infrastructure including road, rail and port access.

The mineral resource base includes 230 Mt at 1,178 ppm TREO (Total Indicated and Inferred), including 44 Mt at 1,239 ppm TREO (Indicated) using a 600 ppm TREO cut-off.

The system also includes elevated heavy rare earth elements, particularly dysprosium and terbium, alongside scandium, titanium, gallium and alumina.

At the Newmont deposit, magnet rare earth oxides represent 24.3% of TREO, with Dy and Tb contributing 3.3% of TREO, while Shanghai Metal Market pricing (March 2026) indicates approximately 25% of basket value is attributable to Dy and Tb.

West Cobar’s Managing Director Matt Szwedzicki stated,

“The progressive metallurgical results represent a significant step toward establishing a scalable development pathway for the Salazar Project.”

Beyond rare earths, the project hosts 15 Mt at 153 ppm Sc2O3 (Inferred), 42 Mt at 5.2% TiO2 (Inferred), and 263 Mt at 35 ppm Ga2O3 (Inferred), with testwork targeting potential recovery of these as co-products alongside a mixed rare earth carbonate product.

The next phase of work includes column leach testwork to simulate heap leach conditions, optimisation of acid consumption and recovery, and completion of mineralogical studies.

These inputs will support development of a preliminary flowsheet and feed into a scoping study planned for CY2026, which will assess mine design, production scheduling, capital and operating costs, and key project risks.

In parallel, the company is engaging with potential strategic partners and evaluating government funding opportunities in Australia and the U.S. as it advances the project toward a defined development pathway.

Within the broader rare earth sector, the combination of near-surface geometry, favourable metallurgical characteristics and exposure to heavy rare earth elements places the Salazar Project within a segment focused on magnet rare earth supply.

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