Critical Metals gets enviro OK for Tanbreez rare earths project in Greenland

U.S.-based rare earth developer Critical Metals (Nasdaq: CRML) has moved another step closer to the start of mining at its Tanbreez project in southern Greenland after securing key environmental approvals for the proposed mine site.

On Tuesday, the company said the reports for geochemical test work and mine closure plan for the Hill area at Tanbreez were approved by the Environment Agency for Mineral Resource Activities (EAMRA) following their submission in late September. These reports were drafted by Danish engineering firm NIRAS, a leading environmental consultancy in the Scandinavian region.

“The fast approval of these test reports, which can be credited to Greenland authorities as well as the professional work by NIRAS, is a key milestone for Critical Metals towards commencing the mining process at Tanbreez,” Tony Sage, CEO and executive chairman of Critical Metals, stated in a release.

The only approvals now left for the Tanbreez project are the remaining parts of the mine and closure plan, as well as plans for “specific activities”, the company said.

Shares of Critical Metals rose nearly 3% to $11.26 apiece on the latest update, giving the New York-headquartered miner a market capitalization of $1.33 billion.

Large deposit

Tanbreez ranks amongst the largest rare earth projects in the world, with a resource base of at least 45 million tonnes from two deposit zones: Hill and Fjord. About a third of this resource is categorized as “heavy” rare earths used widely in high-performance applications such as clean energy and defence, making Tanbreez the largest deposit of its kind.

Earlier this year, the company released a preliminary economic assessment showing the project has an after-tax net present value (NPV) of about $2.1 billion to $2.7 billion at discount rates of 15% and 12.5%, respectively. It calculates an internal rate of return (IRR) of about 180%.

The report outlines a staged growth strategy for the Tanbreez project, with initial production of around 85,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per annum, beginning as early as next year, then scaled to 425,000 tonnes after modular expansion.

According to the company, the Tanbreez resource is hosted within an orebody covering 8 km by 5 km, representing only 1% of the entire 4.7-billion-tonne host rock. Exploration is currently underway to further expand the resource from both deposit areas in support of a bankable feasibility study.