ASQ: MRD: Selectro Delivers 92% Aluminium Recovery from Bauxite
Original announcement by asx on
- Company
- Mount Ridley Mines Limited
- Ticker
- MRD
- Exchange
- ASX
- Region
- Western Australia
- Primary commodity
- Aluminium
- Secondary commodities
- Iron ore
- Document categories
- Metallurgy
- Extracted
- 2026-10-14 23:10:51 UTC
Analysis by Minestarters Atlas
Atlas analysis published:
Minestarters Atlas analysis
Summary
Mount Ridley Mines reported successful first-pass metallurgical testing of its Selectro™ process on a third-party bauxite composite from the Darling Range. The test achieved 92% aluminium and 97% iron recovery, producing a pH-neutral, silica-rich residue instead of conventional caustic red mud.
Reasoning: The Selectro™ process demonstrated high recoveries for both aluminium and iron on a third-party bauxite sample, offering a potentially disruptive, lower-temperature alternative to the industry-standard Bayer process while addressing the environmental challenge of red mud.
Positive factors
- High aluminium recovery (92%) on first pass
- High iron recovery (97%)
- Produces pH-neutral silica-rich residue instead of caustic red mud
- Operates at significantly lower temperatures than Bayer process
- First successful third-party test outside of Grass Patch
Negative factors
- Chemistry not yet optimised for bauxite feed
- Test scale is a single 1kg composite (bench scale)
Facts used in scoring: 2
Classification and evidence
High Recoverypositive
Recovery at or above the exceptional band for the commodity and processing route.
Why it applies: Aluminium recovery of 91.9% and iron recovery of 96.7% are very high for a first-pass test.
Evidence · table
“91.9%”
Context: 41.9%
Bench Scale Onlynegative
Only preliminary bench tests completed — no locked-cycle or pilot work.
Why it applies: The test was conducted on a single 1kg composite sample.
Evidence · text
“single composite of approximately 1 kg”
Mill Routeneutral
Processing via mill or concentrator (CIL, CIP, tank leach, flotation).
Why it applies: the document describes a flotation route ("flotation")
Single Domain Onlynegative
Testing limited to one composite or domain — representativeness not established.
Why it applies: only one composite was tested
Extracted facts
Stored fact records: 2. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.
Metallurgical Results (2)
leachDarling Range bauxite project · aluminiumRecovery: 91.9 %Head Grade: 41.9Head Grade Unit: %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- Darling Range bauxite project
- Commodity
- aluminium
- Region
- australia_wa
- Reported Region
- Western Australia
- Ticker
- MRD
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- leach
- Processing Route
- Selectro™ Process
- Sample
- composite bauxite sample from Darling Range bauxite project
Recovery
- Recovery
- 91.9 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
- Head Grade
- 41.9
- Head Grade Unit
- %
Lab
- Laboratory
- ALS
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: High recovery achieved on a first-pass test with unoptimised chemistry.
Positive factors
- 91.9% recovery is strong for a first-pass, non-optimised test
Negative factors
- Chemistry not yet optimised for bauxite
Evidence · table
“91.9%”
Context: 41.9%
Tags used in scoring
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: the release describes a byproduct credit
leachDarling Range bauxite project · iron_oreRecovery: 96.7 %Head Grade: 13.6Head Grade Unit: %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- Darling Range bauxite project
- Commodity
- iron_ore
- Region
- australia_wa
- Reported Region
- Western Australia
- Ticker
- MRD
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- leach
- Processing Route
- Selectro™ Process
- Sample
- composite bauxite sample from Darling Range bauxite project
Recovery
- Recovery
- 96.7 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
- Head Grade
- 13.6
- Head Grade Unit
- %
Lab
- Laboratory
- ALS
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Very high iron recovery achieved, supporting the potential for iron oxide as a saleable byproduct.
Positive factors
- 96.7% iron recovery is exceptional
Evidence · table
“96.7%”
Context: 13.6%
Tags used in scoring
Byproduct Commodityneutral
The tested commodity is a byproduct rather than the primary economic driver.
Why it applies: the release describes a byproduct credit
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.