Mount Ridley Mines Files Second Selectro Patent After 92% Aluminium Bauxite Result
Key Takeaways
- Mount Ridley lodged a second provisional Selectro™ patent application on 15 October 2026, extending its chemistry from Grass Patch clays to industrial metal feedstocks.
- First-pass ALS testwork on Darling Range bauxite delivered 92% aluminium recovery, 97% iron recovery and more than 90% of the silica left in a small, pH-neutral residue.
- The two applications are held separately, so a bauxite-style licensing deal would not encumber the IP underpinning the Grass Patch Complex.
- Gallium recovery from bauxite has not been reported yet, and it is the key outstanding result among four next steps with no disclosed timelines.
- The announcement discloses no licensing deal, revenue or valuation, and a provisional application is not a granted patent.
Second Selectro™ patent application lodged for industrial metals
Mount Ridley Mines Limited (ASX: MRD, OTC: MRDMF) has lodged a second provisional patent application with IP Australia covering a variant of its Selectro™ chemistry for the recovery of industrial metals. The filing was made on 15 October 2026 by its wholly owned subsidiary, Mount Ridley Tech Pty Ltd, as sole applicant, and was prepared by the Company’s patent attorneys, Wrays.
This is a second application, not a first-ever filing. It uses the same core chemistry as the original Selectro™ application lodged on 18 August 2026, with the reagent molecule (the chemical agent that does the metal extraction) tuned to suit the different mineralogy and metal suite found in industrial feedstocks.
For investors, the point is straightforward. The Company wants to develop Selectro™ as a licensable technology in its own right, and filings like this are the first layer of protection around that intellectual property.
Allister Caird, Managing Director & CEO
“We have taken the necessary steps to protect this second application of the underlying Selectro™ chemistry, which is a prudent measure given the strength of results in its first test on bauxite…”
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What bauxite results sit behind the filing?
Bauxite is the first feedstock tested outside the Company’s Grass Patch Complex, and the first test completed under the Selectro™ third-party program. Further bauxite testwork is to follow.
As announced on 15 October 2026, first pass testwork by ALS on a composite from Australian Silica Quartz Group Ltd’s (ASX: ASQ) Darling Range bauxite project returned the following results.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Aluminium recovery | 92% |
| Iron recovery | 97% |
| Silica remaining in small, pH-neutral residue | More than 90% |
These are first pass numbers. Optimisation of the chemistry specific to bauxite has not yet been undertaken, so you should read them as an early indicator rather than a finished process.
Why do two separate applications matter?
The Company has chosen to hold the two applications separately rather than combine them. The original application protects the recovery of scandium, rare earth elements and gallium from regolith hosted feed such as the Grass Patch Complex, while the new one protects the use of the adapted chemistry on industrial metal feedstocks.
Keeping them distinct allows each to be progressed on its own merits and timetable. It also gives the Company the flexibility to license, partner or otherwise commercialise each body of IP with the counterparties most relevant to it, without encumbering the IP that underpins the Grass Patch Complex.
In practical terms, a deal on bauxite-style feedstocks would not tie up the Grass Patch IP. The announcement does not disclose any licensing deal, revenue or valuation.
What is a platform technology, and why does it matter to investors?
A provisional patent application secures a filing date while a technology is developed further. It is not a granted patent, so Selectro™ is best described as patent-pending.
A platform technology is one core process that can be adapted to multiple feedstocks. Selectro™ was developed to recover scandium, heavy rare earth elements and gallium simultaneously from the Grass Patch clays, and the Company says adapting the same chemistry to industrial feedstocks shows it has applications beyond its own resource. That is central to its strategy of developing Selectro™ as a licensable technology in its own right.
Gallium adds context here. Most of the world’s gallium is recovered as a by-product of alumina refining, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. The Company’s stated objective is to use Selectro™ to recover all of the valuable metals in bauxite, including aluminium, iron, gallium and titanium, leaving no value behind in residue.
Gallium recovery from bauxite has not yet been reported. Those results are still to come.
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What are the next steps for Selectro™?
The announcement lists four next steps, though no timelines were disclosed.
- Receipt and reporting of gallium results from the bauxite leach solution, which requires a separate, more sensitive assay method
- Optimisation of the adapted Selectro™ chemistry for bauxite feed
- Testing of the underlying Selectro™ chemistry on further third party feedstocks
- Progression of both Selectro™ patent applications through to international filing under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
Alongside the technology work, the flagship Grass Patch Project sits approximately 25km north of Esperance, Western Australia.
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