Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (LON:FAR), the vanadium producer and developer of the large Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Southern Kazakhstan, has announced that it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Maglut Heavy Industries Inc, a US strategic rare earths separation company, for the potential supply of a mixed rare earth concentrate produced from the Balasausqandiq ore.
Highlights
– MoU signed with US rare earths separation company
o The Company has entered into a non-binding MoU with Maglut Heavy Industries Inc (“Maglut”), a California-based developer of a proprietary chromatography separation platform, providing a potential downstream route for Balasausqandiq rare earth elements (“REEs”) into the US market
– Encouraging initial separation test work
o Test work on a Balasausqandiq ore sample indicated the potential to separate all 16 REEs present, including yttrium, neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium
– High purities achieved
o Purities in excess of 99.0% were obtained for the economically important REEs within two separation stages, and in excess of 99.999% within five stages
– Strong indicative recoveries
o Average overall separation recovery of approximately 91.4%, with approximately 90.25% recovery achieved in a single precipitation and calcination step to produce rare earth oxides, with opportunities for further optimisation identified
– Potential additional revenue stream
o The MREC would be recovered from residual leach solutions generated after vanadium extraction, creating the potential to add value from the same ore stream without changing the core vanadium process flowsheet
– Potential supply of up to 1,000 tonnes of MREC per annum
o From the Project, with an intermediate project of up to 100 tonnes of MREC per annum at the existing operation also under evaluation
– Next phase of test work being determined
o Further test work, optimisation and economic evaluation are required to advance the process flowsheet to a detailed level of definition. FAR and Maglut are engaged in discussions with US strategic partners to secure financing support for this phase, alongside support for the Balasausqandiq vanadium project.
– Updated mineral resource estimate commissioned
o In order to evaluate the potential REE resource within Ore-Body 1 at the Balasausqandiq deposit, the Company has engaged SRK Consulting (UK) Limited to update the Company’s existing mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) to initially include yttrium, given its known concentration level within the ore and prevailing market price, followed by the other REEs in due course should a limited scope assay programme currently being undertaken by Intertek Minerals on the samples used for the current MRE prove successful.
Maglut has developed a proprietary chromatography-based platform designed to separate and refine high-purity REEs, including strategically important elements such as yttrium, neodymium and dysprosium, for sale into the US market.
The MREC would be produced from residual leach solutions generated by the proposed main project processing facility after extraction of vanadium, thereby creating the potential to recover additional value from the same ore stream without changing the core vanadium process flowsheet.
Yttrium, neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are used across advanced manufacturing, technology, steel, aerospace, defence and energy-related applications, and are subject to increasing strategic focus in the United States and other Western markets, where supply is currently concentrated in China. The Company believes the MoU has the potential to position Balasausqandiq as a future source of rare earths supply outside China, complementing its core vanadium production, and CBS by-product.
In parallel, the Company is evaluating an intermediate project at its existing operation to produce a smaller volume of MREC and potentially accelerate the development of an REE revenue stream. Progress would be subject to Maglut achieving a minimum price-floor, take-or-pay offtake arrangement and non-recourse funding being secured.
Commenting, Nick Bridgen, CEO of Ferro-Alloy Resources, said:
“Securing reliable, non-Chinese supply of REEs has become a strategic priority for the United States and its allies. This MoU with Maglut is an important step in positioning Balasausqandiq as a potential future contributor to that supply chain, alongside our core vanadium business.
What makes this opportunity particularly attractive is its simplicity. The REEs would be recovered from the leach solutions that our planned vanadium process already generates, offering the potential for additional value from the same ore stream without altering the core flowsheet. Maglut’s initial test work is highly encouraging – separating yttrium and other strategically important REEs to very high purities at strong indicative recoveries, on a process that has not yet been optimised for our material. Further test work, optimisation and economic evaluation are required, but these results materially strengthen the case for advancing REE recovery at Balasausqandiq.”
MOU summary
The Company has entered into a non-binding MoU with Maglut for the potential supply of MREC produced from Balasausqandiq ore. The principal terms currently contemplated are as follows:
– The Company would supply Maglut with up to 1,000 tonnes per annum of MREC as a by-product of vanadium processing from the Project.
– The parties will also collaborate on the feasibility of an intermediate project capable of producing up to 100 tonnes per annum of a similar MREC at the existing operation, subject to a minimum price-floor, take-or-pay offtake agreement and non-recourse funding being secured.
– The MREC specification remains to be agreed, with an initial proposed supply term of five years from first production and options for successive five-year supply terms.
– Pricing would be determined through a mutually agreed mechanism to be documented in definitive agreements.
– The MOU is non-binding and all commercial, technical and other terms remain subject to definitive agreements.
About Maglut
Maglut is a US company operating from California, founded in 2025 by Curtis Wu and Azhar Yerzhanova to develop a proprietary platform for processing and refining high-purity REEs for sale into the US market.
Maglut is developing a vertically integrated chromatography platform, including proprietary resin technology. It has validated its ARC-1 process at pilot scale, separating REE-containing feedstock into individual rare earth oxides at purities of 99.9% and higher.
Maglut is developing its platform at a time when US rare earths supply chains are facing increased strategic scrutiny and demand for secure, non-Chinese sources of supply. This includes growing demand from the US steel, technology and defence sectors.
Background to the MREC opportunity
The Company announced on 31 July 2026 that Balasausqandiq ore contains REEs, as demonstrated by historical assays, and that it was working with a US commercial entity to develop methods for their recovery and separation. Maglut was subsequently provided with a sample of Balasausqandiq ore for initial separation and recovery test work.
In that announcement, the Company noted that, based on grades from its 2012 drilling campaign, the in-situ value of yttrium alone in Ore-Body 1 was estimated at approximately US$3.6 billion over the life of mine, equivalent to c.US$110 per tonne of ore treated. That figure is an in-situ value only and is stated before any allowance for metallurgical recovery, operating costs of extraction or the cost of further downstream processing, and should not be taken as an estimate of revenue, cash flow or project value.
MREC test work results
The initial test work was designed to assess the technical potential of Maglut’s separation platform, rather than to optimise the full Balasausqandiq flowsheet. The salient results were as follows:
– Maglut performed rapid acid leaching and ancillary processes on the ore sample to produce a supernatant for further separation and recovery. The leaching was not optimised for elemental recovery but to enable the rapid recovery of all 16 REEs within the ore sample for downstream tests.
– The supernatant was pH-conditioned and then passed through a proprietary chromatographic separation system employing functionalised polymeric stationary phases developed by Maglut.
– 10-15 tests were performed at multiple scales, from 1 millilitre (“ml”) per minute up to 1 litre (“L”) per minute, in chromatographic columns ranging in volume from 2.5ml to 1L. A representative chromatogram from one such separation test indicated the feasibility of separating all 16 REEs within a contact time of 75 minutes.
– Maglut demonstrated the ability to separate challenging pairs (neodymium/praseodymium and dysprosium/terbium) without any optimisation specific to the supernatant derived from the Balasausqandiq ore.
– No preconditioning or initial separation was necessary to eliminate iron, aluminium, or other base and background metals prior to REE separation in Maglut’s chromatographic process.
– Maglut was able to obtain purities in excess of 99.0% for neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium (the economically important REEs within the ore) within two stages and purities in excess of 99.999% within five stages.
– Process data in combination with thermodynamic and process modelling indicated that Maglut achieved an average overall recovery of 91.4% during the separation process noting that the processes adopted for this test work were not optimised for the Balasausqandiq ore. Further improvements in purity and recovery are expected over the course of planned development work.
– Separated streams containing the dissolved REEs were then mixed with a molar excess of oxalic acid to precipitate the REEs as oxalates. The oxalates were filtered and dried, followed by calcination in order to obtain pure rare earth oxides. An average recovery of 90.25% was achieved in a single precipitation and calcination step. Optimisation may lead to further recoveries.
– Maglut’s process relies entirely on low-cost commodity mineral acids (with the exception of oxalic acid for precipitation).
– Based on prior work, Maglut also anticipates its ability to recycle and reuse a significant proportion (>95%) of its overall reagent needs.
Technical and commercial qualification
Based on the initial test work and process modelling, Maglut believes that it may be possible to extract and separate REEs from a Balasausqandiq derived MREC into individual commodity oxides for sale into the US market. The test work described above was undertaken to assess technical potential and was not optimised for Balasausqandiq material, nor does it constitute a fully engineered or commercially demonstrated flowsheet.
Further test work, process optimisation, engineering and economic evaluation are required before any conclusion can be reached as to the technical or commercial viability of recovering and separating REEs from Balasausqandiq ore. No economic assessment has been prepared in respect of the potential MREC product, and no assurance can be given that the MoU will result in definitive agreements, that the intermediate project will proceed, or that REE production will be achieved.
The MoU is non-binding. The MREC specification, pricing mechanism, volumes and all other commercial and technical terms remain subject to negotiation and execution of definitive agreements. The intermediate project is additionally conditional upon agreement of a minimum price-floor, take-or-pay offtake arrangement with Maglut and the securing of non-recourse funding.
