Nevada Lithium talks Cs, Rb extraction rates at Bonnie
Nevada Lithium bolsters Bonnie Claire economics with high-recovery critical mineral by-products
The most recent news (March 25, 2026) reports highly successful metallurgical extraction rates for critical minerals at the Bonnie Claire project. Testing achieved 95.9% extraction for Cesium (Cs) and 86.9% for Rubidium (Rb) from pregnant leach solution (PLS). Crucially, the company confirmed that these minerals can be leached using the existing 2025 PEA flowsheet and baseline conditions, meaning no major redesign of the primary lithium/boron recovery circuit is required. Proof-of-concept ion exchange tests also demonstrated that these minerals can be recovered into a concentrated form.
- Economic Enhancement: While the 2025 PEA already outlined a robust US$6.83B NPV based on Lithium and Boron, the addition of Cesium and Rubidium (both on the US Critical Minerals List) provides a potential third and fourth revenue stream.
- Flowsheet Validation: The fact that these minerals are leachable under "baseline conditions" (450 kg/t acid requirement) is a significant de-risking event. It suggests that by-product recovery may only require "bolt-on" processing steps (ion exchange) rather than a fundamental change to the expensive front-end leaching process.
- Resource Correlation: The news confirms a strong correlation between high-grade Li/B and these new critical minerals in the Lower Zone, suggesting that the existing mine plan naturally accesses the highest value material.
- Incremental Progress: This news follows a consistent trend of expanding the project's scope (Rare Earths identified in Jan 2026, Illite confirmed in Feb 2026). While positive, it remains "Routine" as it is a follow-up to the winter work program announced in Dec 2025.
Nevada Lithium's flagship is the 100%-owned Bonnie Claire Project in Nye County, Nevada. It is one of the largest sedimentary lithium deposits in North America. - Flagship Project: Bonnie Claire. - Resource: Massive scale with a 61-year mine life. - Mining Method: Proposed Hydraulic Borehole Mining (HBHM), intended to target the high-grade Lower Zone (3,000+ ppm Li) at depths of 500-850m. - Processing: Sulfuric acid tank leaching.