Ionic Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: IXR; OTC: IXRRF) has been provisionally granted a mining license for the Makuutu Rare Earths Project in Uganda.
The license clears the way for mining at the Makuutu Rare Earths Project and marks the first large-scale mining license to be awarded in Uganda.
“This is an important step forward for Ionic Rare Earths in mining, refining, and recycling the heavy rare earths critical for the energy transition, advanced manufacturing, and defense,” said Ionic Rare Earths Managing Director Tim Harrison.
“This reinforces the Makuutu Heavy Rare Earth Project as one of the world’s largest and most advanced development-ready heavy rare earth element assets.”
The Stage 1 Mining License covers approximately 44 square kilometers of the project’s near 300 square kilometers of tenements at Makuutu.
Currently, the company’s greater Makuutu Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is estimated at 532 million tonnes at 640 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) with a cut-off grade of 200 parts per million (ppm) TREO minus Cerium Oxide (CeO2).
In March 2023, Ionic announced a positive Stage 1 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the first of six tenements to progress to a mining license application, which is pending in Uganda.
The Makuutu Stage 1 DFS defined a 35-year life initial project producing a 71% rich magnet and heavy rare earth carbonate (MREC) product basket and the potential for significant scale-up through additional tenements, according to the company.
Source: MINING.COM – Read More
