Key Takeaways:
Ionic Mineral Technologies released a preliminary economic assessment for its Silicon Ridge halloysite clay project in Utah County, Utah, outlining an after-tax net present value of $12.1 billion at an 8% discount rate and a 69% internal rate of return.
"The PEA marks an important milestone for Ionic MT and validates years of technical work at Silicon Ridge," Andre Zeitoun, founder and chief executive officer of Ionic MT, said. "The results outline a long-life, capital-efficient U.S. critical-minerals and advanced-materials platform supported by a diversified product suite and the project's maiden Mineral Resource Estimate."
The PEA, prepared by SGS under U.S. Regulation S-K 1300 standards, projects life-of-mine gross revenue of $92.5 billion over an initial 44-year operating plan at a processing rate of 2 million tonnes per annum of halloysite concentrate. Initial capital costs are estimated at $1.1 billion, yielding an NPV-to-capital ratio of approximately 11 times. The after-tax payback period is 1.5 years from the start of production, with life-of-mine after-tax free cash flow of roughly $60 billion — about 50 times initial capital on an undiscounted basis.
The project is designed to produce a diversified portfolio spanning alumina products marketed as IonAL, amorphous nano-silica, and 19 individually valued critical minerals and rare earth elements — each named on the U.S. government's critical minerals list. These include gallium, germanium, rubidium, cesium, and 13 rare earth oxides. Approximately 51% of life-of-mine value is expected from alumina products across high-purity, specialty, chemical-grade, and smelter-grade tiers, with the balance from defense-critical elements and amorphous nano-silica.
Maiden Resource on Less Than 10% of the District
The maiden Mineral Resource Estimate totals approximately 330 million tonnes, comprising 83.2 million tonnes in the Indicated category and 247 million tonnes Inferred, defined on less than 10% of the roughly 12,000-acre Silicon Ridge district. The deposit remains open laterally and at depth. The life-of-mine strip ratio is 0.2:1, with free-dig surface mining requiring no drilling or blasting at a contractor-quoted cost of $2.63 per tonne.
The resource is supported by more than 100 drill holes totaling approximately 4.7 kilometers of drilling across a shallow clay horizon, with deeper core holes testing underlying stratigraphy to depths of up to 270 meters. Sample assaying was performed at independent laboratories including ALS and SGS under the company's QA/QC program.
Non-Bayer Process Eliminates Red-Mud Tailings
The hydrometallurgical flowsheet uses hydrochloric acid leaching at atmospheric pressure and moderate temperature — a property unique to halloysite's naturally reactive aluminosilicate structure. The process is designed as a closed-loop system that recycles process water and recaptures approximately 97% of its primary chemical reagent, reducing waste volumes and environmental footprint. Unlike conventional Bayer-process alumina refining from bauxite, the Silicon Ridge route generates no caustic red-mud tailings.
Site operating costs are estimated at approximately $123 per tonne of feed processed, including contractor mining confirmed by quotation and a full reagent make-up allowance, with no by-product cost credits applied to any product. The PEA applies the independent qualified person's selected recoveries and price assumptions throughout, with several elements — including lithium, hafnium, lanthanum, and cerium — carried at zero value in the model.
Domestic Supply-Chain Significance
The project targets minerals for which the U.S. is currently import-reliant. Gallium and germanium were subject to Chinese export restrictions announced in December 2024, while rare earth elements including terbium, dysprosium, and yttrium became subject to Chinese export licensing controls in April 2025. Rubidium and cesium global mine supply is concentrated in a single foreign-controlled producer.
The Silicon Ridge resource of approximately 330 million tonnes ranks as a large-scale U.S. critical minerals deposit, comparable in strategic significance to MP Materials' Mountain Pass rare earth operation in California, though differentiated by its multi-product polymetallic profile spanning alumina, silica, and 19 critical minerals from a single processing platform.
Ionic MT has engaged Citigroup as its exclusive capital markets adviser. The company separately holds process intellectual property for Ionisil, its halloysite-derived nano-silicon battery-anode material, which is distinct from the amorphous nano-silica co-product valued in the PEA and carries no revenue or cost assumptions in the study's economics.
The PEA is preliminary in nature and its production schedule includes Inferred Mineral Resources — approximately three-quarters of the supporting Mineral Resource — which are considered too geologically speculative to have the modifying factors applied that would allow classification as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that the results of the PEA will be realized.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
