Critical Metals secures environmental approvals for Greenland rare earth mine

US-based rare earth developer Critical Metals (Nasdaq: CRML) has moved another step closer to the start of mining at its Tanbreez project in southern Greenland after securing key environmental approvals for the proposed mine site.

On Tuesday, the company said the reports for geochemical test work and mine closure plan for the Hill area at Tanbreez were approved by the Environment Agency for Mineral Resource Activities (EAMRA) following their submission in late September. These reports were drafted by Danish engineering firm NIRAS, a leading environmental consultancy in the Scandinavian region.

“The fast approval of these test reports, which can be credited to Greenland authorities as well as the professional work by NIRAS, is a key milestone for Critical Metals Corp towards commencing the mining process at Tanbreez,” Critical Metals CEO Tony Sage said in a press release.

The only approvals now left for the Tanbreez project are the remaining parts of the mine and closure plan, as well as plans for “specific activities”, the company said.

Shares of Critical Metals rose nearly 3% to $11.26 apiece on the latest update, giving the New York-headquartered miner a market capitalization of $1.33 billion.

Largest rare earth deposit of its kind

Tanbreez ranks amongst the largest rare earth projects in the world, with a resource base of at least 45 million tonnes from two deposit zones: Hill and Fjord. About a third of this resource is categorized as “heavy” rare earths used widely in high-performance applications such as clean energy and defense, making Tanbreez the largest deposit of its kind.

Earlier this year, the company released a preliminary economic assessment for the project based on the current resource, showing a net present value (NPV) of approximately $3 billion (approximately $2.8 billion to $3.6 billion at discount rates of 15% and 12.5%, respectively, before tax), with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 180%.

The report outlines a phased growth strategy for the Tanbreez project, with initial production of around 85,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per annum, beginning as early as next year, then scaled to 425,000 tonnes after modular expansion.

According to the company, the Tanbreez resource is hosted within an orebody covering 8 km x 5 km, representing only 1% of the entire 4.7-billion-tonne host rock. Exploration is currently underway to further expand the resource from both deposit areas in support of a bankable feasibility study.