MRD: Selectro Returns 95% Gallium Recovery from Bauxite
Original announcement by asx on
- Company
- Mount Ridley Mines Limited
- Ticker
- MRD
- Exchange
- ASX
- Region
- Western Australia
- Primary commodity
- Gallium
- Secondary commodities
- Aluminium, Iron ore
- Document categories
- Metallurgy
- Extracted
- 2026-10-20 23:08:45 UTC
Analysis by Minestarters Atlas
Atlas analysis published:
Minestarters Atlas analysis
Summary
Mount Ridley Mines has reported 95% gallium recovery from a Darling Range bauxite composite using its Selectro™ Process. The single-leach process also achieved 92% aluminium and 97% iron recovery, producing a silica-rich residue instead of traditional red mud.
Reasoning: The release reports high recoveries for gallium, aluminium, and iron using a proprietary process on a third-party bauxite sample, providing a significant technical milestone for the company's technology.
Positive factors
- High gallium recovery (95%) significantly exceeds conventional Bayer process (~70%)
- Simultaneous recovery of gallium, aluminium, and iron in a single leach
- Low temperature processing (below 100°C)
- Cleaner residue (silica-rich) compared to traditional red mud
- Demonstrates adaptability of Selectro™ technology to different feedstocks
Negative factors
- Results are from a single composite sample (first third-party test)
- Focus must now shift to complex separation and purification stages
Facts used in scoring: 3
Classification and evidence
High Recoverypositive
Recovery at or above the exceptional band for the commodity and processing route.
Why it applies: Gallium recovery of 94.9% is exceptional for this type of processing.
Evidence · text
“95% gallium recovery”
Mill Routeneutral
Processing via mill or concentrator (CIL, CIP, tank leach, flotation).
Why it applies: The process involves a leach circuit.
Evidence · text
“single bauxite leach”
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: 3. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.
Metallurgical Results (3)
leachDarling Range bauxite project · galliumRecovery: 94.9 %Head Grade: 80Head Grade Unit: ppmView all detailsHide details
Identity
- Project
- Darling Range bauxite project
- Commodity
- gallium
- Region
- australia_wa
- Reported Region
- Western Australia
- Ticker
- MRD
Test Work
- Program Status
- preliminary
- Test Type
- leach
- Processing Route
- Selectro™ Process
- Sample
- composite prepared from 16 vacuum drill samples taken from four drill holes across the Athena and Ceres prospects of ASQ’s Darling Range bauxite project
Recovery
- Recovery
- 94.9 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
- Head Grade
- 80
- Head Grade Unit
- ppm
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-10-20T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: High recovery of a critical mineral from a third-party feedstock.
Positive factors
- 94.9% recovery is exceptionally high compared to the ~70% benchmark for the Bayer process
Evidence · table
“94.9%”
Context: 80 ppm
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 · 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 prepared from 16 vacuum drill samples taken from four drill holes across the Athena and Ceres prospects of ASQ’s Darling Range bauxite project
Recovery
- Recovery
- 91.9 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
- Head Grade
- 41.9
- Head Grade Unit
- %
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-10-20T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Solid recovery of primary bauxite component.
Positive factors
- Strong recovery of 91.9% for a major commodity
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 prepared from 16 vacuum drill samples taken from four drill holes across the Athena and Ceres prospects of ASQ’s Darling Range bauxite project
Recovery
- Recovery
- 96.7 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
- Head Grade
- 13.6
- Head Grade Unit
- %
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2026-10-20T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Strong recovery of iron from the bauxite composite.
Positive factors
- Very high recovery of 96.7% for iron
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.