• The fine fraction of a composite sample contained 61 per cent of the scandium in 51 per cent of the mass, with 33 per cent of the iron.
  • The company says no processing cost reduction or commercial flowsheet has been demonstrated, and the work is based on a single composite.
  • Aircore drilling is planned to start in late October 2026 on a 100 by 50 metre grid.

West Cobar Metals Limited (ASX:WC1) has reported the first results from front-end beneficiation testwork on scandium mineralisation from its Salazar Critical Minerals Project in Western Australia. The company says the fine fraction of a composite sample contains 61 per cent of the scandium in 51 per cent of the mass, with only 33 per cent of the iron. The work is at an early stage, and the company says no processing cost reduction or commercial flowsheet has been demonstrated.

What was tested

The sample, labelled COMP13_USAP_Amph, was a 139.72 kilogram composite of 49 aircore drilling intervals from 13 holes at depths of between 6 and 28 metres. ALS in Perth assayed the composite at 140 parts per million scandium (equivalent to 215 parts per million scandium oxide), 8.4 per cent iron and 11.6 per cent aluminium. The sample was crushed, wet classified and sized, with a 2.2 kilogram sub-split analysed.

The company says the first stage was designed to show how scandium and impurities such as iron and alumina are distributed across particle sizes. The aim of beneficiation is to upgrade scandium and reduce iron and alumina before leaching, while managing how much mass is recovered.

The results

The material finer than 38 microns made up 51 per cent of the mass and held 61 per cent of the scandium, 33 per cent of the iron and 65 per cent of the alumina. By difference, the coarser fraction held roughly 49 per cent of the mass and 38 per cent of the scandium. The company calculates that the fine fraction's scandium grade is about 1.20 times that of the composite feed, or roughly 20 per cent higher.

The announcement itself flags a trade-off: a meaningful share of scandium reports to the coarser material, while alumina concentrates in the fines. In other words, the size split lifts the scandium grade only modestly and does not on its own remove the alumina that the company would like to reject.

Resource and project background

Scandium and rare earth elements at Salazar are hosted in clay-rich saprolite formed by weathering of high-potassium amphibolites in a Proterozoic alkaline complex. Tenement E63/1496 is 100 per cent owned through a Subsidiary and lies about 120 kilometres north-east of Esperance. The company states that a Regional Standard Heritage Agreement is in place with the Ngadju Native Title Claim group.

The existing Inferred Mineral Resource, reported on 8 October 2024 and not updated in this release, is 15 million tonnes at 153 parts per million scandium oxide and 1,205 parts per million total rare earth oxides, and the company notes it rests on a limited number of drill intersections. The testwork follows leach testwork reported on 30 March 2026.

Limits and next steps

West Cobar states that no new Mineral Resource, Ore Reserve, production target or economic evaluation is reported, and that the beneficiation testwork has not been independently audited. ALS work is continuing, and the company intends to test magnetic separation, gravity separation, targeted mineralogy and possibly flotation.

Aircore drilling is planned to start in late October 2026 on a 100 by 50 metre grid, aimed at finding higher-grade shallow scandium zones, testing extensions and collecting metallurgical material. The company's other priorities include further metallurgical and bioleaching testwork, an integrated flowsheet demonstration, staged scoping and pre-feasibility studies, and continued engagement on potential United States funding and offtake pathways. No funding amounts or timelines were disclosed, and no offtake or funding arrangement has been announced.

The announcement is based on a single composite, and the company has not said when further beneficiation results will be released.