# Aclara Resources Completes Basic Engineering For Its U.S. Heavy Rare Earths Separation Facility In Louisiana

Canonical Atlas analysis: https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459

Original source: https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/press-releases/3072-tsx/ara/212726-aclara-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separation-facility-in-louisiana.html

Publisher: jmn

Original announcement: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Analysis by Minestarters Atlas

Atlas analysis published: 2026-10-13T12:30:37.788Z

Atlas analysis updated: 2026-10-13T12:30:37.788Z

- Company: Aclara Resources Inc.

- Ticker: ARA

- Exchange: TSX

- Region: Louisiana

- Primary commodity: Rare earths

- Secondary commodities: Dysprosium, Terbium, Yttrium, Gadolinium, Samarium, Neodymium, Praseodymium

- Document categories: Other, Metallurgy, Permitting

- Extracted: 2026-10-13 12:30:38 UTC

Narrative sentiment: 0.80 · Bullish

## Minestarters Atlas summary

Aclara Resources has completed basic engineering for its Project Dynamo heavy rare earths separation facility in Louisiana, establishing a technical basis for construction. The study defines a US$494 million Capex requirement and an estimated US$773 million NPV at an 8% discount rate, supported by improved metallurgical recovery estimates and a secured air permit.

Reasoning: The completion of basic engineering for Project Dynamo represents a major de-risking milestone, providing high-confidence Capex/Opex estimates and improved metallurgical recovery targets.

- Positive factor: Completion of basic engineering \(Class 3\) provides greater cost certainty

- Positive factor: Significant reduction in estimated operating costs \(32%\)

- Positive factor: Strong project economics with 27.9% IRR and US$773M NPV

- Positive factor: Improved metallurgical recovery estimations for key oxides

- Positive factor: Secured principal environmental permitting milestone \(LDEQ air permit\)

- Positive factor: Strong financing interest via EXIM Letter of Interest

- Negative factor: Increased capital expenditure \(Capex\) from US$277M to US$494M due to expanded scope

Facts used in scoring: 6

## Classification and evidence

**Milestone Achieved**

Polarity: positive

Story-specific tag

Definition: No canonical definition is currently available.

Why it applies: Completion of basic engineering for Project Dynamo is a significant technical milestone.

Evidence · text

> represents a significant milestone toward construction of Aclara's U.S. processing platform

**Permit Secured**

Polarity: positive

Story-specific tag

Definition: No canonical definition is currently available.

Why it applies: The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality approved the Small Source Air Permit.

Evidence · text

> the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality \("LDEQ"\) approved the Small Source Air Permit for Project Dynamo

**Multi-Domain Tested**

Polarity: positive

Definition: Variability across ore domains \(oxide, transition, fresh\) has been addressed.

Why it applies: 6 distinct composites were tested

## Extracted facts

Stored fact records: 6. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.

## Metallurgical Results (6)

### Fact 1

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-0)

Project Dynamo · dysprosium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: dysprosium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: Dy oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 97.9 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Significant improvement in estimated recovery for dysprosium.

- Positive factor: Recovery estimation increased from 95% to 97.9%

Evidence · text

> Dy: Metallurgical recovery estimation increased to ~97.9% \(from 95%\)

### Fact 2

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-1)

Project Dynamo · terbium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: terbium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: Tb oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 97.7 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Significant improvement in estimated recovery for terbium.

- Positive factor: Recovery estimation increased from 95% to 97.7%

Evidence · text

> Tb: Metallurgical recovery estimation increased to ~97.7% \(from 95%\)

### Fact 3

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-2)

Project Dynamo · neodymium-praseodymium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: neodymium-praseodymium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: NdPr oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 98.9 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Significant improvement in estimated recovery for NdPr.

- Positive factor: Recovery estimation increased from 95% to 98.9%

Evidence · text

> NdPr: Metallurgical recovery estimation increased to ~98.9% \(from 95%\)

### Fact 4

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-3)

Project Dynamo · yttrium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: yttrium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: Y oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 85.7 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Standard recovery estimation for yttrium.

Evidence · text

> Y: Metallurgical recovery estimation of ~85.7%

### Fact 5

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-4)

Project Dynamo · gadolinium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: gadolinium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: Gd oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 86.7 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Standard recovery estimation for gadolinium.

Evidence · text

> Gd: Metallurgical recovery estimation of ~86.7%

### Fact 6

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aclara-resources-completes-basic-engineering-for-its-u-s-heavy-rare-earths-separ--eb91a25e-a723-4965-94f4-53cb57ffd459#fact-metallurgical-facts-5)

Project Dynamo · samarium

#### Identity

- Project: Project Dynamo
- Commodity: samarium
- Region: louisiana
- Reported Region: Louisiana
- Ticker: ARA

#### Test Work

- Sample: Sm oxide metallurgical recovery estimation

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 96.3 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: Standard recovery estimation for samarium.

Evidence · text

> Sm: Metallurgical recovery estimation of ~96.3%

## How Atlas produces this analysis

Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.