Brazilian Rare Earths Limited has released scoping study results for the Monte Alto project in Brazil, forecasting an after-tax net present value of approximately US$6 billion and an internal rate of return of approximately 90%.

The study is underpinned by a mineral resource estimate grade of approximately 11.3% total rare earth oxides across 3.4 million tonnes of primary and residual material. First run-rate production is targeted for 2031 across an initial nine-year mine life, with operations expected to average approximately 6,351 tonnes per annum of neodymium-praseodymium oxide and 2,502 tonnes per annum of heavy rare earth concentrate over the first five years.

The development plan features a compact mine-site operation using conventional mining, crushing, screening and sensor-based ore sorting with no chemical processing on site. High-grade feed will be transported to a refinery at the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex. The flowsheet utilizes a low-temperature acid-cure process that achieved rare earth extraction rates of 97% during earlier metallurgical testing at the CDTN research institute.

The project is also forecast to produce approximately 466 tonnes per annum of uranium oxide on a life-of-mine average basis. While providing a strategic nuclear fuel co-product, uranium revenue has been excluded from the scoping study economics and will be evaluated in future assessments alongside scandium, niobium and tantalum.

Prior to releasing the scoping study, Brazilian Rare Earths secured a trial mining licence from Brazil's National Mining Agency in March 2026 authorising the extraction of up to 2,000 tonnes per annum from the deposit to feed the Camaçari pilot plant, whereas the current scoping study advances the project to commercial-scale economics forecasting an average annual production of 6,351 tpa NdPr oxide and 2,502 tpa HRE+ concentrate over its first five years.

The company scheduled the commissioning and operation of its pilot plant at the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex for the third quarter of 2026. Regionally, Brazilian Rare Earths reported that its Velhinhas project within the surrounding district unlocked a more than 9 km cumulative rare earth exploration corridor through airborne geophysics and diamond drilling in June 2026, sharing the same rare earth commodity as the Monte Alto project.

Read the full announcement: Brazilian Rare Earths Scoping Study Results