Company update · 3 November 2026
A third feed type broadens Selectro's potential market. Mount Ridley Mines (ASX: MRD; OTC: MRDMF) reports that its patent-pending Selectro process recovered 95.5% of the vanadium from a third-party titanomagnetite sample, alongside titanium and iron. The result adds a new application to the Grass Patch clay and bauxite testwork, but remains a laboratory processing result rather than a demonstrated commercial flowsheet.
Two stages, different metals
The sample contained 1.30% V2O5, 14.2% TiO2 and 52.3% iron. The first leach preferentially took vanadium and iron into solution, leaving a residue enriched to 21.5% TiO2. A second leach using fresh solution preferentially recovered titanium, lifting overall titanium recovery from approximately 9% after the first stage to 48.6% across both stages.
Mount Ridley attributes the initial limitation on titanium recovery to solution loading by iron and vanadium. That interpretation, and the potential to optimise the split between stages, still require further testwork. The combined recoveries were calculated using residue-versus-head assays; they are not recoveries into saleable final products.
The process avoided the high-temperature salt roast used in conventional vanadium-focused titanomagnetite treatment. Mount Ridley sees potential for lower processing complexity and additional co-product value, but has not established those benefits through a comparative commercial cost study in this announcement.
Three feeds now tested
| Feed | Reported recoveries |
|---|---|
| Grass Patch clay | Scandium 91.8%; HREE up to 86% (84% average); LREE up to 81% (77% average); gallium 41.5% |
| Darling Range bauxite | Gallium 94.9%; aluminium 91.9%; iron 96.7% |
| Titanomagnetite | Vanadium 95.5%; titanium 48.6%; iron 77.6% |
Why it matters for the Selectro strategy
The commercial proposition is broader than processing Mount Ridley's own Grass Patch material: the company aims to license Selectro to third-party project owners. Titanomagnetite adds vanadium and titanium applications to the scandium, rare earth, gallium and aluminium work already reported. It also expands the range of materials that could be tested in a future demonstration plant.
There is a link back to Grass Patch through titanium-scandium alloys, which are included alongside aluminium-scandium alloys in the company's CSIRO Kick-Start program with Lab22. This is materials-development work, not an alloy sales contract. The vanadium result also provides a potential connection to long-duration flow-battery supply chains, without establishing an electrolyte product or customer.
What comes next
- Larger-scale bauxite work: separation and purification tests aimed at demonstrating the full mine-to-metal pathway.
- Demonstration-plant design: discussions with engineering groups and engagement with prospective vanadium and titanium industry partners.
- Repeatability and economics: process optimisation, reagent consumption, product quality, separation performance and scaling remain important evidence gaps.
The Cashu view: this is another technical milestone for the third-party processing opportunity identified in our October research. It broadens the opportunity set; it does not, by itself, establish licensing revenue, commercial viability or a valuation upgrade. No price target is revised in this article.
Source and related coverage
- Original announcement: Selectro Recovers 96% Vanadium from Titanomagnetite, 3 November 2026 (PDF).
- Previous update: 94.9% gallium recovery from bauxite.
- Cashu Research Report: Selectro and the Western Scandium Supply Chain.
Technical results and planned activities are attributed to Mount Ridley's announcement. General information only, not personal financial advice. Laboratory results and future plans do not establish commercial viability. Investments can lose value.