Brazilian Rare Earths Commissions Pilot Plant and Locks in $1.7M Stage II Co-Funding
Key Takeaways
- BRE's Stage I beneficiation pilot plant at Camaçari, Bahia has been successfully commissioned and produced its first rare earth mineral concentrate, marking a tangible operational milestone.
- Co-funding of R$6.4 million (~A$1.7 million) from SENAI CIMATEC and EMBRAPII covers approximately 59% of Stage II hydrometallurgical plant capital and operating costs, with total partner contributions now at R$14.6 million (~A$3.9 million) across the full programme.
- Stage II detailed design is already underway, with key equipment deliveries planned for Q4 2026 and commissioning targeted for Q2 2027.
- BRE's August 2026 Scoping Study already places the integrated Monte Alto + Camaçari case in the first quartile of the global rare earth cost curve at ~US$21/kg NdPr equivalent — and that figure excludes any revenue credits from uranium (540 tpa U₃O₈ in first five run-rate years), scandium, or other co-products.
- Carester, BRE's French rare earth separation partner and binding offtake counterparty for up to 150 tpa of dysprosium and terbium under a 10-year agreement, leads the separation workstream across the full pilot programme and PFS.
Stage I pilot plant commissioned as BRE locks in co-funding for Stage II hydromet plant
Brazilian Rare Earths (ASX: BRE) has reached two significant milestones simultaneously: the Stage I beneficiation pilot plant at Camaçari, Bahia has been successfully commissioned, producing its first rare earth mineral concentrate, while co-funding for the Stage II hydrometallurgical pilot plant has been secured from SENAI CIMATEC and its partner organisation EMBRAPII.
The Stage II co-funding package totals R$6.4 million (~A$1.7 million), covering approximately 59% of the Stage II plant’s expected total capital and operating costs. Combined with previously secured Stage I co-funding, total partner contributions across the Camaçari pilot programme now stand at R$14.6 million (~A$3.9 million).
Stage II detailed design is already underway. Key equipment deliveries are planned on-site in Q4 2026, with commissioning targeted for Q2 2027.
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What the two-stage pilot programme means for investors
The Camaçari pilot programme is structured as a logical production chain, taking ore through two distinct processing stages before arriving at saleable rare earth products.
Stage I uses physical processing, known as beneficiation, to upgrade raw ore from BRE’s Rocha da Rocha Province into a concentrated mineral product. Stage II then takes that concentrate through hydrometallurgical extraction and separation — the chemical processing steps that convert concentrate into finished value-added products including NdPr oxide (the neodymium-praseodymium magnet metal that drives electric motors), heavy rare earth HRE+ concentrate, and uranium yellowcake.
The table below sets out the defined purpose of each stage, using BRE’s own framing from the announcement:
| Stage | Process Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Stage I – Beneficiation | Physical processing | Upgrades Rocha da Rocha mineral feedstocks into mineral concentrate for downstream pilot testing and PFS engineering |
| Stage II – Hydrometallurgy | Chemical extraction and separation | Converts mineral concentrate into value-add products, optimising extraction and separation flowsheets, and generating data for a Camaçari rare earth refinery |
The data generated across both stages feeds directly into BRE’s pre-feasibility study (PFS). Operating results refine the processing flowsheet, inform equipment selection, and build the cost estimates that underpin engineering decisions — the building blocks of a bankable feasibility study.
World-class partners anchor the technical programme
SENAI CIMATEC is described in the announcement as a leading Brazilian technology and research institution. Its renewed partnership with BRE will build pilot plant processing and analytical capability at Camaçari, supporting technical jobs and specialist skills development in Bahia, Brazil.
Carester, the French rare earth separation specialist, leads the separation workstream across the full pilot programme and PFS, and will support engineering, design, and commissioning for BRE’s planned Camaçari refinery. Carester is also BRE’s “heavy rare earth HRE+ concentrate offtake partner” under “a binding sales agreement with an initial 10-year term, covering product containing up to 150 tonnes per annum of dysprosium and terbium.” Carester’s Caremag facility in France will process HRE+ concentrate into separated heavy rare earths including dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium oxides.
Bernardo da Veiga, CEO & Managing Director
“With the Stage I pilot plant successfully commissioned, we are now advancing our bulk metallurgical test work program that will underpin our feasibility studies… With SENAI CIMATEC’s continued co-funding and Carester’s rare earth separation expertise, we are enhancing the technical data to advance our integrated rare earth hub-and-spoke processing platform in Brazil.”
Co-product upside could drive costs below the scoping study benchmark
BRE’s August 2026 Scoping Study already places the integrated Monte Alto + Camaçari case in the first quartile of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s forecast global rare earth cost curve at approximately US$21/kg NdPr equivalent. Importantly, that cost position excludes any revenue credits from co-products.
The Stage II programme is designed to test whether those credits are achievable. The economic logic is straightforward: uranium recovery capital and operating costs are already included in the Scoping Study cost base, but zero uranium revenue is credited. Any commercial uranium value realised, subject to applicable Brazilian requirements and agreed commercial arrangements with INB, would represent a net cost reduction against the existing benchmark. The same logic applies to scandium and other potential co-products.
The co-product streams under investigation are set out below, reproduced from the announcement’s co-product table:
| Co-product | Published basis | Focus of further work |
|---|---|---|
| Uranium | 540 tpa U₃O₈ in the first five run-rate years; 466 tpa LOM average. Capex and recovery costs included; revenue excluded. | Yellowcake product, integrated performance and commercial value retained by BRE |
| Scandium | Study-estimated annual feed inventory of ~43 tonnes Sc₂O₃ LOM average, before metallurgical recovery; no production or revenue included. | Extraction from solution, purification, product quality, incremental costs and customer partnerships |
| Tantalum, niobium, titanium | Potential recovery from enriched leach residues; no production or revenue included. | Residue upgrading, critical element recoveries, saleable products and buyer payability |
Two important caveats apply. The scandium figure (~43 tonnes Sc₂O₃) is a feed-inventory estimate before metallurgical recovery — it is not a saleable production estimate. No production or revenue figures are attributed to uranium, scandium, or the Nb-Ta-Ti stream in this announcement. The PFS programme will assess the technical and commercial parameters needed to quantify the economic potential of these pathways. No revised cost forecast or global cost ranking is reported.
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What comes next for BRE
BRE’s near-term roadmap, drawn directly from the announcement’s Next Steps section, covers six workstreams:
- Optimise Stage I: Systematic variability test work to refine mineral concentrate grade, recovery, and feedstock preparation for downstream programmes.
- Deliver Stage II: Complete and commission the hydrometallurgical pilot plant by Q2 2027, enabling integrated extraction and rare earth separation programmes.
- Expand analytical capability: Install dedicated laboratory equipment for rapid multi-element analysis to support process optimisation and product quality testing.
- Monte Alto fast-track pathway: Pilot results will support assessment of a potential fast-track Monte Alto upgraded mineral concentrate export development pathway, subject to further engineering and technical studies — this is not a confirmed development decision.
- Strategic co-product development: Advance metallurgical test work, flowsheet design, and product samples for potential uranium, scandium, niobium, titanium, and tantalum co-products.
- Apply the results: Incorporate pilot plant data into PFS engineering, flowsheet design, equipment selection, and product samples for customer evaluation and offtake discussions.
Together, these milestones represent a systematic technical de-risking of BRE’s integrated rare earth hub-and-spoke processing platform ahead of the PFS, with partner-funded infrastructure covering the majority of the Stage II plant’s capital and operating costs.
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