Key Highlights

  • The updated Jupiter Mineral Resource comprises 160 Mt at 1,700 ppm TREO Indicated and 1.5 Bt at 1,700 ppm TREO Inferred, at a 1,000 ppm TREO cut-off.
  • The Indicated portion is about 10% of total tonnage, and the vast majority of the 1.7 Bt total remains in the Inferred category.
  • Total tonnes fall from 1.8 Bt in the February 2025 estimate to 1.7 Bt, at the same 1,700 ppm TREO grade, and no Ore Reserve has been declared.

Critica Limited (ASX:CRI) announced on 12 October 2026 an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Jupiter Rare Earths Project, located within its 100%-owned Brothers Project in Western Australia. The estimate was prepared independently by SRK Consulting and establishes the first Indicated Mineral Resource at Jupiter, following infill drilling completed on part of the deposit.

Resource figures at the headline cut-off

At a 1,000 ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) lower cut-off, the Indicated Mineral Resource is 160 million tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO. The Inferred Mineral Resource is 1.5 billion tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO, giving a total of 1.7 billion tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO. The Indicated category contains 420 ppm of magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), about 25% of TREO, made up of 84 ppm Pr6O11, 310 ppm Nd2O3, 4 ppm Tb4O7 and 18 ppm Dy2O3. It also contains 89 ppm Y2O3, 45 ppm Sc2O3 and 40 ppm Ga2O3. Gallium and scandium are excluded from TREO and reported separately.

Drilling behind the classification

The Indicated classification rests on infill drilling on a 125 m by 125 m grid across about 3.3 km² of the 42 km² Jupiter resource footprint, roughly 10% of the area. The estimate incorporates drilling completed to March 2026, with a data cut-off of 6 July 2026. Outside the infill area, broader 250 m by 250 m drilling continues to support only an Inferred classification. SRK considered the geological interpretation, the quantity and quality of drilling and sampling data, grade continuity and the performance of the estimation when classifying the resource.

Comparison with the February 2025 estimate

The new estimate supersedes the maiden Jupiter MRE announced on 11 February 2025, which reported 1.8 billion tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO, all Inferred. At the same cut-off, the updated total is therefore lower in tonnes at 1.7 billion tonnes, while TREO grade is unchanged. The company states that the principal aim of the 2026 infill program was to establish Indicated resources and increase confidence rather than add tonnes.

Cut-off sensitivity and reporting notes

The release tabulates the resource across cut-offs from 400 ppm to 2,000 ppm TREO. For the Indicated category, tonnes fall from 220 million tonnes at 1,400 ppm TREO at a 400 ppm cut-off to 100 million tonnes at 1,900 ppm at a 1,500 ppm cut-off, and 28 million tonnes at 2,300 ppm at a 2,000 ppm cut-off. Critica says the 1,000 ppm headline cut-off reflects the shallow and consistent mineralisation, preliminary metallurgical test work and benchmarking against comparable clay-hosted rare earth projects, and describes it as conservative relative to most peers.

Figures are rounded and totals may not sum precisely. No Ore Reserve has been declared. The company says the Jupiter Scoping Study is progressing and will be released shortly, and the estimate is reported under the JORC Code (2012 Edition) with supporting detail in Appendix A.

Composition of the Inferred category

The Inferred category of 1.5 billion tonnes at 1,700 ppm TREO carries a lower magnet rare earth content than the Indicated portion, at 380 ppm MREO compared with 420 ppm. Its listed grades are 82 ppm Pr6O11, 280 ppm Nd2O3, 3 ppm Tb4O7, 14 ppm Dy2O3, 72 ppm Y2O3, 36 ppm Sc2O3 and 40 ppm Ga2O3. Iron content is 7.5% in the Inferred category compared with 11% in the Indicated category at the 1,000 ppm cut-off.