Key Highlights
- Graphite One began a three-month research program with Ames National Laboratory on rare earth recovery.
- The study will test leaching and separation methods on garnet from the Graphite Creek deposit near Nome, Alaska.
- Graphite One said the work aims to produce a preliminary scalable process flowsheet and mass balance.
Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) has started a research program with Ames National Laboratory to assess and optimize a process for recovering rare earth elements from garnet material at its Graphite Creek deposit near Nome, Alaska.
The company said the three-month project will be carried out under a Strategic Partnership Project Agreement and will examine garnet preparation and characterization, acid leaching, separation of heavy rare earth elements from light rare earth elements, and product purification. Graphite One said it is funding the work and that the program is intended to develop a preliminary scalable process flowsheet and evaluate mass balance, reagent use, water consumption and waste generation.
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Ames National Laboratory work plan
Graphite One said the program will begin with mineralogical and chemical characterization of the garnet material, comminution and mechano-chemical activation, followed by preliminary acid-leaching tests. It said later phases are expected to focus on optimizing leaching conditions and screening separation approaches, including solvent extraction, stepwise pH adjustment and fractional crystallization, before assessing precipitation and purification of rare earth group products and preparing an integrated flowsheet and mass balance.
Earlier testing cited by Graphite One
Graphite One linked the new work to earlier testing it said was conducted in 2025, when garnet grains were mechanically separated from crushed Graphite Creek drill-core samples at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and analyzed for rare earth element concentrations by Activation Laboratories (ACTLabs).
According to the company, ACTLabs found that 85% of the rare earth elements in the tested garnet material were magnet or heavy rare earths. Graphite One said the analysis reported dysprosium concentrations of 3263 parts per million, yttrium of 198427 parts per million and scandium of 84141 parts per million, and that the separated garnet fraction showed two to six times higher rare earth concentrations than the remaining material.
Graphite One described Ames National Laboratory as a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory operated by Iowa State University, with research that includes work on materials and technologies relevant to critical minerals supply chains.
The original press release is available on stockhouse.com
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