Metallurgical Results from Olserum REE Project

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 17 July 2024 

European Green Transition plc 

("European Green Transition", "EGT" or "the Company") 

 Metallurgical Results from the Olserum REE Project 

European Green Transition (AIM: EGT), a company developing green economy assets in Europe which aims to capitalise on the opportunity created by the green energy transition, is pleased to announce its first metallurgical test work results from the Olserum Rare Earth Elements ("REE") project in south Sweden.  

Highlights 

·    Test work confirms that the mineralisation style at Olserum is capable of producing a REE-rich concentrate from simple magnetic separation followed by standard flotation.

·    Following 20 flotation tests, a flowsheet to produce separate REE, apatite and magnetite concentrates has been devised using conventional and well-proven beneficiation techniques. A bulk REE-apatite concentrate containing the minerals monazite, xenotime and apatite was produced with high recoveries of 84.4-92.6% for light rare earth elements ("LREE") and 80.9-90.7% for heavy rare earth elements ("HREE").  The bulk REE-apatite concentrate had grades between 10.5% and 12.6% total rare earth elements ("TREE").

·    This was increased to 30-40.11% total rare earth oxides ("TREO") after high gradient magnetic separation ("HGMS") on the bulk concentrate with initial recoveries of between 55.3-64% for LREE and 53.8-72.5% for HREE respectively, representing a mass pull of only 1.03-2.04%.

·    The Directors believe that these results, in conjunction with EGT's fully permitted low-cost drill programme scheduled for H2-2024, will support the Company in seeking to monetise the Olserum project by attracting a partner to fund a larger scale programme.

Aiden Lavelle, Chief Executive Officer of European Green Transition, said: 

"This metallurgical test work on a 135kg sample of typical mineralisation from the Olserum REE Project indicates that the target REE phosphate minerals can be concentrated into a high-grade concentrate with a significant proportion of high-value and critical heavy rare earths. The grade of the final concentrate exceeded my expectations, and the mineralogy of the final concentrate was dominated by the target minerals with 40.25% being monazite and 24.25% being xenotime which is very favourable. It demonstrates that a low volume high-grade concentrate can be produced at Olserum and can potentially be processed at a 3^rd party's facility, which is significantly more cost effective than developing a bespoke processing facility.  Test work such as this is crucial to derisk further investment and demonstrate to potential partners that the mineralisation style can be processed using conventional and relatively simple processing techniques.

"We believe these results further strengthen the Olserum REE project and make it an attractive European based proposition, as a number of companies internationally are looking to increase REE production from monazite feedstocks and are actively seeking feedstock for new and proposed plants. We are now focused on our fully permitted low-cost drill programme for Olserum in H2 2024, which we believe could confirm a district scale REE system with further project upside, supporting our intention to attract a partner to fund a larger scale programme."

Test Work Results

The results of laboratory test work on a composite sample of historic core from the historic (2013) Olserum REE resource confirm the potential for the Olserum mineralisation to be processed using relatively straightforward and simple beneficiation techniques. The work improves upon the earlier testing in 2013 which was paid for by the European Commission's EURARE research project. The new test work was carried out at the GTK laboratory in Finland and overseen by the same expert who was involved in the previous work. Recent fieldwork including rock chip and channel sampling has identified the same style of mineralisation across the developing district-scale REE system and this test work gives confidence that the mineralisation style is amenable to producing a low volume concentrate with very good recoveries.

Flow Sheet And Test Work

A composite sample weighing approximately 135Kg was first crushed to -1.5 mm and ground to a suitable size for mineral liberation in a lab rod mill. A grinding test was conducted for determination of the relationship between the grinding size and the grinding time. Mineralogical analysis showed that monazite and xenotime are present at higher contents in the -75μm fraction compared to the -250μm to +75μm fraction.  The flow sheet was based on 80% passing around 100μm.

Wet low intensity magnetic separation ("WLIMS") was then conducted to recover magnetite prior to flotation. The non-magnetic product from the WLIMS was reported to bulk REE and apatite flotation after dewatering by filtration. A total of 20 WLIMS and bulk flotation tests were completed to test different parameters and establish the optimal flotation conditions.

The bulk REE and apatite concentrate was further processed to separate the REE-phosphates from the apatite by trialling various methods including HGMS, gravity concentration with a shaking table and further flotation. The separation of the bulk REE concentrate into a REE concentrate and apatite concentrate was a new development from previous test work and it was found that the HGMS was somewhat successful in upgrading the REE grade of the concentrate albeit with some REE losses to the apatite concentrate.

Figure 1 Beneficiation flowsheet for Olserum style mineralisation.

Results

A high purity magnetite concentrate can be produced using WLIMS prior to flotation. The magnetite concentrates obtained from the WLIMS tests had grades of between Fe 59-64% and 80-90% magnetite with very low recoveries of REE and P, typically 0.12%-0.18 P₂O₅. The vanadium content is c.0.15% V₂O_5. Magnetite represents 3.76% of the sample according to the MLA (mineral liberation analysis).

The best results achieved in the set of flotation tests had recoveries ranging between 84.4% and 92.6% for light rare earth elements (Ce as a proxy for LREE) and 80.9% and 90.7% for heavy rare earth elements (Y as a proxy for HREE). The bulk REE-apatite concentrate generated by these tests had grades estimated between 10.5% and 12.6% TREE.

Following HGMS of the bulk REE-apatite concentrate, a REE concentrate with grades up to 30-40.11% TREO was produced at initial recoveries of between 55.3-64% for LREE and 53.8-72.5% for HREE respectively, representing a mass pull of only 1.03-2.04%. The apatite concentrate grade was 33% P₂O₅ at a recovery of 57.3% representing a mass pull of 2.8%.

The final upgraded concentrate produced after the HGMS had the following grades:

*capped at 0.1% REE

Sample Information, Quality Assurance / Quality Control

The composite sample weighing 135kg was obtained from 149m of quarter core which was cut from six historic intersections across four drill holes within the historic 2013 resource at Olserum. The holes which were sampled were OLO514, OLO513, OLO516 and OLR12004. The core was cut to ¼ core samples at ALS Minerals in Mala prior to bagging into 6 separate samples for dispatch to the GTK Circular Economy Solutions Laboratory in Outokumpu, Finland. The samples were crushed, blended and milled at GTK to provide a further set of 20 sub samples for bench-scale flotation and WLIMS tests.

The head sample was analysed by XRF and ICP-MS, respectively by CRS Laboratory in Finland and MSA LABS in Canada. The head grade analysis by ICP-MS was 7,045 ppm TREE, equivalent to 0.849% TREO. This was very close to the expected length-weighted grade of 0.876% TREO based on the historic assay intervals. The head grade and flotation test analyses by XRF appear to under-report the REEs compared to ICP-MS analyses which are deemed more accurate. Recoveries for individual flotation tests were based on XRF analysis of Ce as a proxy for LREE and Y as a proxy for HREE. High levels of La in the sample caused interference in the GTK XRF instrument and La was not fully analysed in the GTK assays but can be estimated based on a consistent correlation to Ce values in other assays. The final concentrate was analysed at MSA labs in Canada with all REE elements reported separately.

MSA Labs included blanks and standards within the sample stream to monitor QAQC (quality assurance and quality control). The difference in recoveries between LREE and HREE in this announcement reflects the distribution of the REE elements between the minerals monazite and xenotime with monazite usually hosting LREE and xenotime hosting HREE. The chief expert supervising the work at GTK was Jason Yang (Yang Xiao Sheng).

Competent Person 

All scientific and technical information in this announcement has been prepared under the supervision of and reviewed and approved by EurGeol Aiden Lavelle, M.Sc., P.Geo., EGT's Chief Executive Officer. The results reported here are based on a report provided to the Company by GTK and the contents of this release have been reviewed by Yang Xiao Sheng at GTK. Mr Lavelle has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies, which outlines standards of disclosure for mineral projects. Mr Lavelle consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. 

-ENDS- 

Enquiries 

European Green Transition plc 

Panmure Liberum- Nominated Adviser and Broker 

Camarco - Financial PR 

Notes to Editors 

European Green Transition plc (listed on the AIM London Stock Exchange under the ticker "EGT") is a business operating in the green economy transition space in Europe. EGT intends to capitalise on the opportunities created by Europe's transition away from fossil fuels to a green, renewables-focused economy. The Company plans to expand its existing portfolio of green economy assets through M&A, targeting what it believes to be distressed and undervalued projects. EGT sees substantial opportunities to deliver value from its M&A pipeline, which includes critical material, wind, solar, processing and recycling projects. 

EGT's highly experienced leadership team has a strong track record of building successful public companies through the acquisition of distressed assets. EGT plans to replicate this approach, creating a sustainable and profitable business while generating shareholder returns. 

The Company's current portfolio of green economy assets includes the Olserum Rare Earth Project in Sweden. The Olserum project is one of Sweden's projects of "National Interest" and has the potential to become Europe's first operating REE mine. EGT has taken an exclusive option over a copper tailings recycling project in Cyprus with the potential to generate meaningful amounts of copper, and with the site and surroundings offering an excellent long-term location to establish a potential solar power facility. EGT has taken a further exclusive option to develop a peatland carbon sink programme and in turn generate carbon credits at Altan in Donegal in the northwest of Ireland. EGT owns additional projects in northern Sweden and Germany which have defined and tangible upside with potential to realise near-term inflection points in a cost effective manner. EGT's objective is to build a profitable business while aiming to monetise some of its assets through sale or partnership with larger industry players or European end users. The team is focused on success while remaining committed to its defined ESG strategy, ensuring excellent development practices across all projects in addition to regular local community engagement.