Meteoric Clears Final Hurdle for Pilot Plant at Caldeira Rare Earth Project

Meteoric Resources (ASX MEI) has received the green light from Brazilian regulators to begin constructing its pilot rare earth processing facility in Poços de Caldas, marking a major milestone in the development of its Caldeira project.

The licence from the Minas Gerais State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development (SEMAD) allows Meteoric to build and operate the pilot plant, which is expected to be operational by late October. With equipment already on site, construction and commissioning will begin immediately.

The pilot plant is designed to process 25 kilograms of ore per hour, producing around 2 kilograms of mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) each day. While modest in scale, the plant will serve as a proving ground for the Caldeira process flowsheet, providing valuable operational data and enabling real time optimisation of inputs to reduce costs.

Meteoric will also use the facility to generate product samples for potential offtake partners, a key step towards securing binding agreements for full scale production. In parallel, the company intends to test conventional and innovative separation technologies to add downstream value in the longer term.

Managing director Stuart Gale said the licence approval represents a turning point for the company.
“This is a significant milestone in the development of the Caldeira Project and we are grateful for the strong and ongoing support of SEMAD,” he said. “The pilot plant will allow us to demonstrate to the community, offtake partners, downstream technology developers, investors and regulatory agencies our technical capacity to produce a high quality MREC product, whilst managing spent clays with low environmental impact.”

The pilot plant carries an estimated capital cost of around A$2 million and will be housed in Meteoric’s customised facility in Poços de Caldas. Once in operation, it will provide not only technical validation but also a tangible signal to investors and potential customers that Caldeira is moving steadily towards commercialisation.

Meteoric has spent the past two years advancing the Caldeira project into one of the most closely watched clay hosted rare earth developments globally. The project is underpinned by substantial resource potential, with geology and metallurgy teams credited by Gale as having developed an “unparalleled understanding” of the deposit.

By late October, the market will be watching for the first pilot scale MREC production. For Meteoric, it will mark the transition from exploration and study to demonstration, placing the company firmly on the pathway to establishing Brazil as a future supplier of critical rare earths.