MTM Critical Metals has revealed a “further breakthrough” in its two-step flash joule heating (FJH) technology, designed to change to the way rare earth elements (REE) are processed.
The FJH process offers an alternative to traditional “cracking and leaching” processing methods, which typically involve sulfuric acid baking at high temperatures to convert rare earth minerals into partially soluble REE sulfates.
This conventional approach is resource-intensive, demanding substantial energy input for high temperature operations and vast volumes of water to dissolve the sparingly soluble REE sulfates.
The FJH technology aims to bypass these inefficiencies by creating purified REE chlorides in a single operation.
In November 2024, MTM announced its FJH technology had successfully removed nearly 50 per cent of the main impurities – including iron, aluminium, calcium and phosphorus – from a REE flotation concentrate in a single step, reducing water consumption, chemical reagent usage, and downstream refinement complexities.
To build off these impressive results, the company carried out more testing works to optimise the technology further.
Now, MTM’s FJH technology has successfully removed approximately 95 per cent of the main impurities, including iron, aluminium and phosphorus, from REE concentrate in the same single step.
The innovation has also achieved 93 per cent average conversion of REEs to chlorides, enhancing efficiency through refined carbo-chlorination parameters.
MTM managing director and chief executive officer Michael Walshe said the FJH technology is set to offer significant economic and environmental advantages, including reduced costs, streamlined REE production, and reduced reliance on foreign REE supply chains such as China.
“This breakthrough in REE processing simplifies rare earth extraction by producing REE-chlorides – a more valuable, easier-to-handle, and refined intermediate compared to traditional REE-sulphates,” Walshe said.
“This includes the highly valuable and strategically critical magnet REEs: Nd (neodymium), Pr (praseodymium), Dy (dysprosium), and Tb (terbium).
“Building on previous successes, it highlights the transformative potential of FJH technology to deliver higher efficiencies and a more sustainable alternative to incumbent methods.”
Throughout 2025, MTM plans to continue carrying out testing programs across multiple critical metal feedstocks such as rare earths, lithium, and e-waste to further validate the FJH technology.
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