Medallion Resources has produced a calcium phosphate by-product through the recent bench-scale metallurgical testing of its rare-earth extraction process.
The company said phosphate typically makes up 24% to 29% of the mineral monazite, which is the feedstock for its rare-earth extraction process.
Once in production, the by-product is expected to represent an additional revenue stream for Medallion.
Medallion Resources president & CEO Don Lay said: "Our rare-earth extraction flow sheet makes available the phosphate component of the monazite feedstock as we produce a refinery-ready, rare-earth concentrate.
"A side benefit is that we can also produce a high-quality calcium phosphate, which we expect will find a ready market near our proposed plant.
"Although this phosphate by-product is unlikely to be a significant revenue driver for our project, all sources contributing to our project’s economics are important."
Earlier this month, Medallion unveiled results of its bench-scale metallurgical tests, supporting the viability of its proposal for extraction of rare earths from by-product monazite sand.
The metallurgical tests recovered an average of 91% of ten rare-earth elements and yielded a mixed rare-earth concentrate from the tested monazite.