Quest Rare Minerals’ Strange Lake Pilot Plant Includes Unique Flow Sheet Proposal

Technology Metals Research reported that Quest Rare Minerals’ pilot plant is intended to confirm the bench-scale results under continuous processing conditions that were first determined by front-end work for the Strange Lake B-Zone flow at a plant in Colorado by Hazen Research.

As quoted in the market report:

The proposed flow sheet for Strange Lake is as interesting as it is unusual. At present it does not include a beneficiation stage, which is typically required for rare-earth (and other) projects, for upgrading the initially mined materials into a mineral concentrate, prior to cracking and leaching to form a PLS. The aim of such beneficiation is the reduction in the mass of materials that goes through the subsequent processing steps, thus reducing processing costs. If however the metals of interest can be leached from the minerals with high recovery rates, without pre-concentration, a flow sheet without beneficiation may be considered. The economics of the process will ultimately dictate whether or not beneficiation is required.

To view the whole Technology Metals Research report, click here.