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ABx Group is examining its options to monetise its bauxite projects - the biggest gibbsite-type bauxite deposits in eastern Australia - to capitalise on increasing bauxite prices and supply shortages. The company is in talks about potential offtake deals, direct investment and asset purchases and is also updating its resource figures and mine studies to support the earliest possible start to production.

ABx Group's 83 per cent owned subsidiary ALCORE is set to produce aluminium fluoride at the company's pilot plant, which will be established at a facility adjacent to Rio Tinto Aluminium's Bell Bay smelter in northern Tasmania. ALCORE plans to prove its world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from smelter waste, which will then be converted into aluminium fluoride, essential for the aluminium smelter industry.

ABx Group and its subsidiary ALCORE are redefining the circular economy by turning waste into opportunity and have garnered the Tasmanian Government's support along the way. Tassie will provide indicative terms and conditions for a $1 million, zero-interest loan to fund the construction of a continuous pilot plant to trial its world-first proprietary process that produces industrial chemicals from waste generated during aluminium smelting.

ABx Group's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary ALCORE has made significant strides in its efforts to produce high-value hydrogen fluoride from waste after reporting its highest-ever recovery from its single stage fluorine reactor. The company reported a massive 97 per cent fluorine recovery from its 2-stage fluorine reactor, including an 85 per cent recovery from first stage processing of waste produced from the aluminium smelting process confirming a lucrative commercial pathway for the company.

ABx Group's innovative work in exploring, drilling and processing ionic-adsorption clay rare earths deposits in Tasmania last year has been rewarded with a Federal Government rebate of more than $437,000. The timely cash injection comes less than a month after the company's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary ALCORE received a similarly-sized rebate for its work on a process to recover and recycle waste aluminium fluoride.

Local rare earths explorer ABx Group and TSX-listed Canadian firm Ucore Rare Metals have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to forge a binding offtake agreement for the supply of a mixed rare earths carbonate –enriched in the valuable dysprosium and terbium metals – sourced from the former's Deep Leads project that sits 45km west of Launceston in northern Tasmania.

ABx Group's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary ALCORE will look to further refine its process to recover and recycle waste aluminium fluoride after securing a $474,000 Australian Government rebate for its research-and-development work in the past financial year. ALCORE's “world-first” and environmentally-friendly process has been designed to recover hydrogen fluoride from the excess bath that is produced during the smelting of aluminium.

ABx Group says it has uncovered the potential for resource extension at its Deep Leads rare earths prospect in Tasmania after receiving the first 316 assays from its 37-hole maiden air-core drilling sortie. The company's latest assay suite not only revealed thicker rare earths intercepts than usual, but also a high 4.3 per cent proportion of the high-value dysprosium and terbium elements.

ABx Group has confirmed that its “Alcore” technology has delivered its best fluorine recovery result to date, returning 93 per cent in testwork at its Technology Centre on the NSW Central Coast – increasing the company's confidence in the commercial viability of the process. Management says detailed experimental work and an in-depth knowledge of the relevant process underpinned the impressive result.

ABx Group has expanded the rare earths resource at its combined Deep Leads-Rubble Mound-and Wind Break deposits in Tasmania by 70 per cent, to 89 million tonnes at a grade of 844ppm total rare earths oxides. Importantly, the resource contains what the company describes as “the highest proportion of combined dysprosium and terbium magnet rare earths oxides of any clay-hosted rare earths resource in Australia”.

ABx Group's ambition to produce aluminium fluoride for the aluminium smelting industry have been given a shot in the arm with new testing showing 88 per cent fluorine recovery from aluminium smelter waste – the best result to date from its bath pilot batch reactor in New South Wales. The company says learnings from the latest round of testing will be incorporated into the design of its upcoming continuous pilot plant.

ABx Group's latest assay results have further expanded the rare earths zone at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound project in northern Tasmania, showing mineralisation enriched in the valuable heavy rare earths, dysprosium and terbium. The company says the results prove the site west of Launceston retains the highest proportion of the two elements of any clay-hosted rare earths resource in Australia.

ABx Group has expanded the rare earths zone at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound project in northern Tasmania, with new drill hits showing mineralisation enriched in the valuable heavy rare earths, dysprosium and terbium. The company says its latest drilling proves that the site west of Launceston retains the highest proportion of the two elements of any clay-hosted rare earths resource In Australia.

ABx Group is confident its subsidiary Alcore will achieve substantially-enhanced fluorine recovery after incorporating new equipment to deliver the ideal feed particle size for its reactor to handle. The company is awaiting results from a fourth phase of testwork after a ball mill and an ultrasonic vibrating screen were used to prepare a narrower range of particle sizes for feed material.

ABx Group has revealed high grade critical rare earths in drilling at its Wind Break prospect, only 15km northeast of the company's 52 million tonne Deep Leads-Rubble Mound rare earths resource in Tasmania. Seventeen of the holes yielded samples where more than 4.5 per cent and up to 6.7 per cent of the total rare earth oxide content is made up of the more lucrative heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium.

The addition of fluorine to the Australian Government's list of critical minerals has put ABx Group in prime position to impact global supply after it successfully pilot tested its new fluorine reactor process. The batch-scale testing that involved the processing of waste bath was recently carried out by the company's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary, Alcore.

ABx Group says three runs of its new bath reactor under standard process conditions have removed more than 90 per cent of fluorine from test samples and is producing hydrogen fluoride gas from each batch. The company says metal sulphate samples from the process have been sent for analysis to confirm yields, with results expected next month.

ABx Group has pumped its mineral resource estimate up to 52 million tonnes at 817 parts per million TREO after management completed a block model for its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound rare earths deposit in Tasmania. The company says the resource model is based on data from 407 drill holes across the resource area and covers 39 per cent of the identified mineralised outline.

ABx Group has launched the operation of its new pilot batch reactor in a world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from bath, a fluoride-rich waste product from aluminium smelting, at its technology centre in NSW. The company and its subsidiary, Alcore, believe the process they have developed could have great potential for Australia, which currently imports all of its aluminium fluoride.

ABx Group has revealed plans to launch back into its hunt for rare earths in the Tasmanian bushland with a follow-up drill campaign at its Wind Break prospect before turning back to Deep Leads-Rubble Mound. The Wind Break drilling will be co-funded dollar-for-dollar by Mineral Resources Tasmania up to a maximum of $70,000 in the eighth round of the State's Exploration Drilling Grant Initiative.

ABx Group has unearthed rare earths grades it believes are “unrivalled” for clay-hosted mineralisation in Australia at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound prospect in Tasmania, with an eye-watering result of 17,333 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO). The results came from a program 2km west of a hole that yielded the company's previous best assay result with a top value of 4444ppm TREO.

ABx Group has strengthened its grip on a significant area of Tasmanian rare earths potential with the granting of two new exploration licences covering 483 square kilometres for an initial five-year term, extending its recent Portrush discovery. The company also has an application in train to secure intervening ground between its established Deep Leads and Wind Break prospects.

ABx Group has installed a pilot-scale bath reactor and an associated support system at its Alcore Technology Centre in NSW to trial the production of hydrogen fluoride from aluminium smelter waste. The chemicals research and manufacturing company has developed a world-first process to produce hydrogen fluoride from a fluoride-rich waste product known as “bath”, which is often produced in excess from aluminium smelting.

ABx Group has locked in a deal that could be worth up to about $9 million for the supply of cement-grade bauxite to South Australian construction materials company Adelaide Brighton Cement's Birkenhead manufacturing operation. The contract will see ABx supply between 90,000 and 120,000 tonnes of bauxite during a five-year term from its DL130 project in northern Tasmania.

ABx Group's ALCORE pilot plant in NSW is now fully funded to completion after the company raised an extra $1.5 million to complement a $7.5 million grant received from the Australian Government through its Modern Manufacturing Initiative. Construction at the NSW Central Coast site has started and the company has taken delivery of the bath mini-reactor, with formal commissioning of the plant just days away.

ABx Group has started a new 18-hole campaign to see if it can expand on a recent 11m-thick hit at 1700ppm total rare earth oxides at its promising Deep Leads prospect in Northern Tasmania. It says the RC program will target the northern section of its exploration area near the recent rare earths hit in a bid to find similar thickness and enrichments.

ABx Group has pocketed a cool $1.25 million in research-and-development tax rebates after receiving more than $503,000 from the Australian Tax Office for rare earths activities in Tasmania throughout last year. Earlier this month, the company's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore took home a similar tax offset of $522,715 for work undertaken last year on its world-first process to recover hydrogen fluoride.

ABx Group's 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore has captured a research-and-development tax offset of $522,715 from the Australian Tax Office for work undertaken last year on its world-first process to recover hydrogen fluoride. Management says it also expects to receive an additional tax offset for the R&D activities it undertook at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound rare earths project in Tasmania.

ABx Group has bumped up its Tasmanian ionic-adsorption clay-hosted rare earths mineral resource estimate by 30 per cent to 27 million tonnes averaging 803ppm TREO. The updated figure comes courtesy of an additional 36 drill holes that have stretched the company's prospective target area across a 16km strike from the Deep Leads-Rubble Mound deposit through to its recent Windbreak discovery.

ABx Group has hit some “major milestones” through its 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore by finalising the preliminary engineering design phase for its pilot facility and ordering a laboratory reactor. The alumina technologist and rare earths explorer is developing a pilot plant in NSW to recover fluorine from an aluminium smelter waste product to produce hydrogen fluoride.

ABx Group is edging towards a commercial-grade rare earths project after unveiling a new record intercept of 11m going an impressive 1700 parts per million total rare earths oxide (TREO) from just 2m at its Deep Leads-Rubble Mound project in Tasmania. Management says the intersection also contains 1m going 4444ppm from 7m and 1m grading 3629ppm from 8m.

ABx Group has boosted the mineral resource estimate at its rare earths project in northern Tasmania by 50 per cent, to pass the 20 million tonnes milestone on the back of a 30-hole drill program. The company believes “not all clays are created equal” and says its deposit is different to most others because the process of extraction would be cheaper and cleaner.

ABx Group has hit paydirt with its latest rare earths exploration in Tasmania with assays from an ongoing drill campaign more than tripling the initial mineral resource of its Deep Leads and Rubble Mound channel. At 13.9 million tonnes, the resource is now 350 per cent larger than the maiden mineral resource however, with assays outstanding and drilling continuing, a further upgrade might be on the cards.

ABx is looking to make the most of the warmer weather as it kicks off its latest drilling program ahead of schedule. The campaign will aim to expand the mineralised zone at two of its Tasmanian rare earths discoveries. The 120-hole program at the company's Deep Leads and Rubble Mound rare earths prospects is set down for three months and the first results could start flowing in just a couple of weeks.

ABx Group's 83 per cent owned subsidiary, Alcore has received an initial $3.3 million of an almost $7.6 million grant to support the development of an aluminium bath recycling plant at Bell Bay in Tasmania. The funding forms part of the Federal Government's Modern Manufacturing Initiative and will also be used to support the ongoing construction of a similar pilot plant on NSW's Central Coast.

Diversified metals company ABx Group has tabled a maiden 3.94 million tonne rare earths resource at its Deep Leads – Rubble Mound channel area within its northern Tasmanian portfolio. The inventory offers an average total rare earths oxide grade of 918 parts per million and ABx expects the asset's footprint to balloon from more drilling next year.

Alumina technologist and rare earths explorer ABx Group's 83 per cent owned subsidiary, Alcore has selected its initial operating conditions for its planned pilot plant on the NSW Central Coast after performing extensive assessments. Now the initial operating conditions have been selected the pilot plant reactor engineering design can be completed.

Diversified metals company ABx Group is again spinning the drill bit in a 6.5km corridor between two deposits of rare earth elements in northern Tasmania, aiming to merge and expand the mineralised areas. This latest campaign is the third to test the mineralised corridor between the company's Deep Leads and Rubble Mound deposits in the north of the Apple Isle.

First pass drilling by ABx Group between its two rare earths discoveries in Tasmania has confirmed a contiguous 6.5km mineralised channel with the results to feed into a maiden resource estimate. Results from the thick and shallow zone include 21m at 2511 parts per million total rare earth oxides from 2m downhole and another 8m hit grading 1556ppm total rare earth oxides also from 2m.

A tough winter drilling campaign in northern Tasmania has borne fruit for ABx Group with assays more than tripling the lateral extent of the high-grade rare earth elements mineralisation at its Deep Leads deposit. The company has now kicked off its maiden resource estimation. The market liked the news with its shares closing 32 per cent higher at the end of trading.