Rare earth elements are fundamental to the global shift towards clean energy and electrification – and equally vital in advanced industries from electronics and digital technology to healthcare and defence. These critical materials – particularly neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium – are essential components of high-performance permanent magnets in electric vehicle (EV) drivetrains, and wind turbine generators. As demand accelerates, the world is assessing how these materials are mined, processed and brought to market; and how to build supply chains that are technically robust, geopolitically resilient and ready for the future.
Today, most rare earth processing capacity sits in one region, creating concentration risk across global value chains. Government and industry are responding with new alliances, funding programs and strategic frameworks aimed at diversifying supply. But policy alone doesn’t create capability. It is engineering – disciplined, precise and scalable – this ultimately establishes resilient supply chains.
Governments and companies are launching initiatives to diversify supply and build local capability. Europe’s new Critical Raw Materials Act and a major US-Australia critical minerals alliance both aim to establish domestic rare earth processing capacity and reduce reliance on the dominant supplier. In short, global rare earth production must expand and become more geographically balanced to support the energy transition.
For rare earth project developers and operators, the opportunity is clear – but so is the complexity. Rare earth processing presents some of the most demanding flowsheet challenges in modern metallurgy. These elements typically occur in low concentrations, intermingled with other minerals and often accompanied by radionuclides. Extracting them requires a multi-stage process: beneficiation to concentrate the ore, cracking to liberate the rare earths, leaching and purification to remove impurities, and advanced separation- typically via solvent extraction – to isolate individual oxides. Each stage demands precision engineering, rigorous impurity control, and alignment with downstream product specifications, such as those required by magnet manufacturers.
At Sedgman, we see this challenge as an opportunity to push what’s possible. Our focus in on delivering practical, future-ready solutions that turn rare earth potential into operating reality.
This is where Sedgman excels. Our engineering expertise spans the entire rare earth value chain – from run-of-mine ore through to refined oxides and even metal products. We design technically robust flowsheets that optimise each processing step, ensuring product quality and operational reliability. Our team understands the interdependencies between geology, metallurgy, and plant design, and we integrate these disciplines to deliver scalable, compliant, and commercially viable solutions. Whether supporting early-stage test work or full-scale EPCM delivery, Sedgman provides the end-to-end capability needed to bring rare earth projects online with confidence.
Building a Foundation for Success in Rare Earth Projects
Sedgman approaches early project phases with a pragmatic, systematic mindset focused on a few core principles:
- Aim test-work at what matters most: We design metallurgical test programmes that target the variables that have the biggest impact on the flowsheet and project economics – grind size, reagent selection, ore characteristics. By zeroing in on these factors, we generate data that directly informs flowsheet development and de-risks key design decisions.
- Address impurities early and decisively: Instead of deferring the tough problems, we address deleterious elements (like radioactive components or other impurities) are treated as design-critical inputs, not afterthoughts. We engineer controls from day one, ensuring environmental, regulatory and operational requirements are met without costly late-stage modifications.
- Bridge the gap from lab to plant: We ensure processes proven in the lab will work at industrial scale. Flowsheets are validated through pilot trials, rigorous modelling, and early selection of full-scale equipment. This makes the transition from bench-scale test work to an operating plant as smooth and predictable as possible.
Case Study: Donald Rare Earth & Mineral Sands Project (Victoria, Australia)
Sedgman’s work on the Donald Rare Earth & Mineral Sands Project demonstrates the value of early technical engagement. Donald is a heavy mineral sands deposit with rare earth-bearing monazite. In 2024, we began an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) with Astron Corporation for the project’s first phase, focusing on process design, execution planning and operational readiness.
Our team combined mineral sands know-how with rare earth expertise to engineer a flowsheet that maximised value from both the mineral sands and rare earth fractions. We designed a beneficiation circuit to produce a high-quality heavy mineral concentrate while ensuring the monazite was captured in a separate stream. We then fine-tuned the process to avoid monazite losses to tailings and upgrade the rare earth concentrate. Downstream Astron Limited’s joint venture partner for the Donald Project, Energy Fuels Inc, uses a cracking stage to liberate the rare earths, followed by leaching and separation to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate product.
Beyond process design, Sedgman delivered an Operational Readiness Plan covering workforce recruitment and training, maintenance planning, environmental management and radiation safety. This gave Astron a clear, confident pathway from feasibility to execution. By mid-2025, with a robust technical basis and delivery strategy in place, the Donald project secured key regulatory approvals and attracted strong investor interest.
Sedgman’s Rare Earth Credentials and Capabilities
Our rare earth portfolio spans Australia, North America and emerging global projects. We delivered portions of Lynas Corporation’s Kalgoorlie rare earth refinery, engineered Iluka Resources’ Eneabba monazite processing plant (and continue to support Iluka’s rare earth recovery at other sites), led a U.S. refinery study for Ionic Rare Earths, and advised on Australian Strategic Materials’ Dubbo project and Arafura Resources’ Nolans project.
Through these engagements, we developed comprehensive capabilities across the full rare earth processing flowsheet. Our expertise ranges from comminution and beneficiation to high-temperature processing, to hydrometallurgical techniques such as leaching, solvent extraction and ion exchange, and on to final separations and crystallisation. Sedgman also offers end-to-end services to guide projects from concept through to operations. Our team can assist at every stage – from early scoping studies, lab test-work programme design and flowsheet development to detailed engineering, project execution (EPCM), and ultimately commissioning, ramp-up and optimisation support.
We combine this breadth with a disciplined, pragmatic approach that keeps projects moving toward a bankable, buildable outcome.
Conclusion: Partnering to Power the Future
Rare earths are indispensable to the clean energy transition and underpin growth in fields like electronics, healthcare and defence. But taking a rare earth project from concept to reality requires clarity, capability and confidence across every stage of development.
With future-ready engineering, grounded progress and bold ambition, we guide clients through complexity and toward high-performance outcomes.