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Resouro PEA points to $1B potential rare earth and titanium project

Staff Writer | June 15, 2026

Resouro Strategic Metals (TSXV: RSM) has completed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for a starter operation at its flagship Tiros rare earths and titanium project in Brazil that it says confirms the potential for a billion-dollar operation.


Prepared by a team led by Norda Stelo, the PEA outlines a post-tax net present value (at 8% discount) of $714.9 million and a post-tax internal rate of return of 44.2%.


Tiros, located in Minas Gerais, is one of the world’s largest deposits in combined rare earths and titanium resources. Last year, the measured and indicated resource increased by almost 37% to 1.4 billion tonnes at 12% titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 4,000 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREOs). These include measured resources of 367 million tonnes and indicated resources of 1 billion tonnes, both grading 12% TiO₂.

The resource update, the company said at the time, marked a significant milestone as it established the Tiros project as home to one of the world’s largest and most significant resources of both titanium dioxide and rare earths.

‘Robust economics’

The study envisions a proposed 500,000-tonne-per-annum operation producing approximately 90,000 tonnes of TiO2 concentrate and 3,636 tonnes of TREOs annually over an initial 20-year mine life.

The project benefits from low-strip, near-surface mineralization, conventional processing and a dual-revenue stream from titanium dioxide concentrate and mixed rare earth carbonate products, the company said, estimating recovery rates of 68.7% and 67% for these minerals respectively.

The proposed starter operation targets less than 1% of the project’s 1.4-billion-tonne resource, leaving substantial scope for future expansion and long-term growth, it added.

“The project’s robust economics are based on high levels of total rare earth oxides (TREO) and titanium oxide grades,” Resouro CEO Christopher Eager said in a news release.

“We believe that starting with a small high-grade operation will minimize the social and environmental impacts, reduce the time to production and significantly de-risk the project,” Eager continued. “Our goal with this staged approach is to support future financing and provide a pathway for larger-scale development.”

À peine autorisé par le Maroc, le projet de titane de Tan-Tan franchit déjà une nouvelle étape

21 août 2026

Moins d’une semaine après l’obtention de sa licence minière au Maroc, le projet TitanBeach de Tan-Tan accélère. Une nouvelle société a été créée et un accord signé avec un groupe public multinational pour préparer notamment une usine pilote.
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Le projet a ainsi enchaîné plusieurs avancées en quelques jours : concession minière, création d’une société dédiée, arrivée d’un partenaire industriel et préparation d’une usine pilote. Reste désormais à démontrer que le titane présent dans les sables de Tan-Tan peut être récupéré et traité dans des conditions permettant une exploitation à grande échelle.

Empire Metals shares jump as Pitfield titanium resource hits 8.2B tonnes

Staff Writer | August 19, 2026


Pitfield titanium project. (Image courtesy of Empire Metals.)

Empire Metals (LON: EEE) shares jumped more than 13% Wednesday after the junior unveiled an upgraded resource for its Pitfield project in Western Australia, which it says confirms the deposit as the world’s largest titanium resource.

The updated mineral resource estimate puts Pitfield at 8.16 billion tonnes grading 4.3% titanium dioxide, containing 349 million tonnes across the Thomas and Cosgrove deposits. The update also establishes Pitfield’s first measured resource, increasing confidence in the deposit as Empire advances mine planning and economic studies.

“The upgraded MRE, which underlines the sheer scale of this discovery, comes just weeks after we demonstrated an integrated flowsheet based on conventional processing steps to produce 99% pure titanium dioxide,” managing director Shaun Bunn said. “The high-grade weathered zone sits at surface and lends itself to simple, efficient mining methods.”

The upgrade gives Empire greater confidence in the scale and geological continuity of a deposit it aims to develop into a source of high-purity titanium dioxide for pigment and metal feedstock markets. The metal is also used in aerospace, defence and industrial applications.

The company’s next challenge is demonstrating that the resource can underpin an economically viable operation using the processing route it has developed.

Resource confidence

Pitfield now contains 374 million measured tonnes grading 5.8% titanium dioxide for 21.6 million contained tonnes. Another 3.65 billion tonnes grading 4.3%, containing 154 million tonnes, sits in the indicated category, while 4.2 billion inferred tonnes grading 4.1% contain 173 million tonnes.

At Thomas, 43% of the resource is now measured and indicated, with the remainder inferred. Cosgrove has 51% in the indicated category and the balance inferred.

Empire said it envisions a conventional processing operation producing high-purity titanium dioxide in pigment and metal feedstock forms for global markets. The project has existing rail connections to ports serving markets in Asia, the US, Europe and Saudi Arabia.

“We now have both halves of the equation: a titanium resource of exceptional scale and an integrated processing route designed to produce high-value products,” Bunn said.

Investors welcomed the update. Empire shares reached 51.9 pence in early London trading before easing to 49.7 pence, giving the company a market capitalization of almost £377 million ($513 million).

Development test

The first measured resource represents an important step towards more detailed mine planning and economic work, but Pitfield remains a development-stage project. Empire must still translate its resource size, grades and processing results into an economic development plan.

The company’s recently demonstrated flowsheet produced titanium dioxide at 99% purity using conventional processing steps, according to Empire. The near-surface, higher-grade weathered material could also support relatively straightforward mining methods if subsequent studies confirm its technical and economic viability.

The combination gives Empire a substantially better-defined resource base as it moves towards the studies needed to determine how Pitfield might be developed at commercial scale.

IperionX lands second US Army order for domestic titanium

Staff Writer | August 31, 2026

IperionX (NASDAQ: IPX, ASX: IPX) announced Monday that the U.S. Army has awarded it a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for low-cost, domestic titanium for defense applications.


Considered a critical mineral by the US, EU and Canada because it is essential for defense, aerospace, medical, and industrial technologies, titanium has a unique strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance with few substitutes.

Titanium is used in two distinctly different forms: as titanium dioxide (TiO2) for pigments and as titanium metal alloyed for aerospace applications.

The company’s second SBIR contract enables qualifying US Government agencies to place project-specific orders collectively capped at $99 million. Task Orders 1 and 2 have an aggregate stated value of approximately $19.8 million, with $79.2 million remaining available under the IDIQ contract ceiling.

The SBIR funding supports equipment and manufacturing systems to expand IperionX’s domestic titanium powder-to-part manufacturing capacity. The program will increase titanium component-processing capability, bring critical manufacturing steps in-house and support shorter lead times, providing the potential to lower acquisition and production costs for U.S. defense applications, the company said.

The program advances integrated titanium powder-to-finished-component operations, with continuous HSPT and dehydride furnace capacity, together with equipment that will bring titanium fastener finishing fully in-house at IperionX’s Virginia facility.

Expanded US defense manufacturing capability

A manufacturing program for titanium track pins, bolts and fasteners for defense applications, with inspection and acceptance is planned at Detroit Arsenal and Army Research Laboratory’s Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Future option line items could extend IperionX’s patented technologies into an aerospace-grade titanium component program, it said.

“This second U.S. Army task order represents an important step in scaling IperionX’s titanium powder-to-part manufacturing platform,” IperionX CEO Taso Arima said in a news release.

“The SBIR Phase III award aims to advance continuous and industrial-scale HSPT and dehydride capacity and bring titanium fastener finishing fully in-house at our Virginia titanium manufacturing facility,” Arima said.

“The program will expand our capacity to manufacture titanium track pins, bolts and fasteners for the U.S. Army, shorten production lead times and strengthen the domestic titanium manufacturing capabilities required to support U.S. defense supply chains.”

IperionX validates technology to scale US titanium production

Amanda Stutt | September 17, 2026

IperionX (NASDAQ: IPX, ASX: IPX) announced the successful operational validation of its continuous titanium production furnace, with the system achieving a sixfold increase in throughput volume and a 75% reduction in energy intensity compared to previous batch processes.


The company said its hydrogen magnesiothermic reduction (HAMR) titanium production platfor, ‘GenX’, has been successfully validated through the first four production campaigns, completed on the commercial-scale system at its Virginia R&D facility.

GenX validation, the company said, opens a pathway to a step change in titanium production economics. Moving beyond the batch model used in conventional Kroll titanium production, continuous processing has the potential for higher throughput, significantly lower unit costs, improved equipment utilization and reduced processing time, IperionX said.

Considered a critical mineral by the US, EU and Canada because it is essential for defense, aerospace, medical, and industrial technologies, titanium has a unique strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance with few substitutes.

Titanium is used in two distinctly different forms: as titanium dioxide (TiO2) for pigments and as titanium metal alloyed for aerospace applications.

The United States consumes over 31,000 metric tons of titanium for aerospace applications annually, but currently has zero domestic production of titanium sponge, which is the raw metal required to melt and alloy the material.

IperionX’s GenX system processed more than 500 kg of titanium powder across four separate continuous runs totaling 41 hours, at an average rate of approximately 12 kg per hour, it said.

In August, the U.S. Army awarded IperionX its second Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for domestic titanium for defense applications.


The company’s second SBIR contract enables qualifying US Government agencies to place project-specific orders collectively capped at $99 million.

The contracts support equipment and manufacturing systems to expand IperionX’s domestic titanium powder-to-part manufacturing capacity.

“Achieving continuous primary titanium production has long been the ultimate aspiration for the titanium industry,” IperionX CEO Taso Arima said in a news release.

“IperionX’s GenX process is a continuous titanium production platform that is more efficient to operate and easier to scale. These first results exceeded our expectations: more than 500 kilograms of recycled titanium powder processed across four separate runs, with every sample meeting its relevant oxygen specification,” he said.

“Substantially lower magnesium, hydrogen and power consumption at steady state, together with processing throughput increasing by six times, give us a strong basis for industrial development.”

Arima said the next step is the engineering and economic evaluation of the first industrial-scale production line, and the company aims to establish a scalable platform for expansion that lowers production costs and brings titanium within reach of a broader range of applications.