Resouro moves ahead on road to development at Tiros titanium and REE project

Resouro Strategic Metals appoints Progesys International as project engineering managers for its Tiros titanium and rare earths project in Brazil

The company has also named Sete Soluções e Tecnologia Ambiental to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment for the project

The appointments align with a range of other ongoing initiatives Resouro is undertaking to unlock the potential of the Tiros deposit

Special Project: Resouro Strategic Metals has made a big step forward at its Tiros titanium and rare earth elements project with the appointment of Progesys International as project engineering managers.

The company has additionally selected Sete Soluções e Tecnologia Ambiental to complete the environmental impact assessment for the project in Brazil’s mining-friendly state of Minas Gerais.

Both partnerships will allow Resouro Strategic Metals (ASX:RAU) to progress its collaboration with Invest Minas to progress the project’s development towards permitting, construction and mining.

The latest progress at Tiros comes a week after Brazil’s federal development bank BNDES and state financing agency Finep launched a joint $1.325 billion fund to boost the South American nation’s critical minerals supply chain.

Top-tier partners

Canadian-founded Progesys was selected for its capabilities that are highly relevant to Resouro’s Tiros project, which has a maiden resource estimate of 1.7 billion tonnes.

Tiros is already one of the world’s largest JORC combined rare earths and titanium deposits and has plenty of growth potential as the MRE is for only 7% of the project.

Jordana Ferreira, director of industrial projects for Progesys in Latin America, will lead the project development activities, including environmental and engineering studies, from Resouro’s Belo Horizonte project office.

After seven years at Serra Verde, Brazil’s only operating rare earths project, Ferreira has deep experience in project management with a specialty in transition to operations, which will be backed by Progesys’ multidisciplinary team and expertise.

Sete is one of Brazil’s largest environmental consulting companies and it will undertake studies to support the approvals process for a mining licence for Tiros.

The Sete team will also complement the community engagement programs Resouro is undertaking.

Resouro CEO Alistair Stephens said the involvement of Progesys and Sete for engineering and environmental studies over the project is a significant milestone.

“I am confident Progesys [is] the right team to manage the project’s development, including overseeing the preliminary feasibility and environmental studies produced by Sete, ensuring the project progresses smoothly through to operations.

“Progesys’ proven capabilities, along with Jordana’s experience during the development phase at Serra Verde, will be highly valuable in guiding us through the project’s key stages, positioning us for long-term success.”

Big year ahead

The appointments align with the company’s other ongoing initiatives to unlock the potential of the Tiros deposit.

These include Resouro’s partnership with the Integrated Economic Development Institute and one with the Minas Gerais State Economic Development Department, which provides the foundation for the state of Minas Gerais to assist with the advancement of Tiros.

The Progesys and Sete appointments add to the momentum at Tiros and kick off a busy year of upcoming news from the project.

In the near term the company is expecting the next batch of assays from the 2024 drill program, which will be used for an updated JORC Resource Estimate.

The potential for further resource growth was reinforced by the first infill drilling results received in November, which boosted confidence in the consistency of Tiros’s shallow, high-grade mineralisation.

Advancing technical programs

Resouro is also making significant progress with metallurgical testwork for the separation and recovery for titanium dioxide, rare earths elements, and other by-products.

This work is being performed at laboratories in Perth, CIT Senai Laboratories in Belo Horizonte and at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, with initial results expected in the first quarter of 2025.

Demonstration plant

In parallel with these programs, Resouro is moving forward with plans for a demonstration plant at the Tiros Northern Block, building on current metallurgical testwork and the development of an optimised metallurgical flowsheet.

Following these technical programs, the company will start the highly anticipated first-stage scoping study, leading to prefeasibility and definitive feasibility studies.

This article was developed in collaboration with Resouro Strategic Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.