CENTURY LITHIUM HIGHLIGHTS RARE EARTH POTENTIAL AT ANGEL ISLAND, NEVADA
Century Lithium's Angel Island project reveals rare earth by-product potential, adding technical value but awaiting economic assessment.
The most recent news release, dated December 11, 2025, highlights the rare earth element (REE) potential at Century Lithium's Angel Island Lithium Project in Nevada. The company reports positive metallurgical test results for REE recovery as a by-product. Using a chloride-based process and ion-exchange, high recoveries (exceeding 97%) of selected REEs from solution were demonstrated. The claystone bulk sample used for testing contained 239 ppm (0.024%) total rare earth oxides (TREO). Century Lithium states that these levels could "contribute meaningfully to North America's critical mineral supply chain and revenue streams from Angel Island" but explicitly notes that an "economic evaluation is pending further work."
This follows a December 2, 2025 news release that also reported over 97% recovery of REEs and critical metals (excluding cesium) from primary lithium leach solutions using ion-exchange, achieving selectivity against lithium without impacting the core lithium recovery process. The Senior Vice President, Metallurgy, noted that this validates the belief in "meaningful secondary-value opportunities" and the potential to strengthen the project's economics.
The most recent news is a follow-up to previous technical announcements regarding rare earth element recovery. While confirming strong technical recovery rates (over 97%) and noting the presence of REEs (0.024% TREO) in the claystone, the news explicitly defers any economic assessment, stating it is "pending further work." This indicates that while the technical feasibility of extracting REEs as a by-product is proven, its financial contribution to the Angel Island project's economics remains unquantified and speculative at this stage.
In the context of the overall project development, this is a positive incremental technical de-risking step. It suggests potential for additional revenue streams, which could enhance the project's net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) in a future updated feasibility study. However, without concrete figures on expected revenue contribution, capital expenditure implications, or operational costs associated with REE recovery, the immediate financial impact is not material. It aligns with the company's continuous efforts to optimize its process and explore secondary value opportunities, as detailed in prior releases regarding DLE improvements, lithium hydroxide production, and an optimization study for CAPEX reduction.
The consistent message of high recovery rates for REEs from the primary leach solutions (December 2 and December 11 news) validates the technical team's capabilities but the absence of economic impact assessment means it does not significantly change the investment thesis or warrant a "Material - Positive" rating at this time. It is a positive operational update, but not a definitive financial game-changer.
Century Lithium Corp. is an advanced-stage lithium company focused on developing its 100%-owned Angel Island Lithium Project (formerly known as Clayton Valley) in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA. The project is a sedimentary lithium deposit, identified as one of the largest in the United States.
Century Lithium is developing a patent-pending process combining chloride leaching with direct lithium extraction (DLE) to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) and potentially lithium hydroxide (LiOH) and rare earth elements as by-products. The company operates a demonstration plant in Nevada to optimize its process and produce samples for potential end-users.
The project is currently in the permitting stage for a three-phase feasibility-level production plan, with an estimated mine life of 40 years and an average annual production of 34,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate. Recent developments include: * Inclusion in the FAST-41 Transparency dashboard process, a federal initiative aimed at streamlining permitting for critical mineral projects in the US. * Successful production of high-purity lithium hydroxide samples at its demonstration plant. * Positive test results for the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) as a by-product. * An optimization study suggesting a potential CAPEX reduction of up to 25% from the initial Phase 1 CAPEX of $1.581 billion, pending an updated feasibility study.