Canada Rare Earth has secured the right to increase its stake in the Bom Futuro tailings property in Rondonia, Brazil, to 52% from the existing 20%.

Three of Bom Futuro’s owners have agreed that Canada Rare Earth can increase its stake by arranging development funding.

The critical mineral mining company will also assume operatorship of the project, which has permits for extraction work. It is currently working alongside investment bankers to garner funds to start operations at the property.

The 70 million tonnes of tailings have accumulated over 25 years of tin mining by Paranapanema and other artisanal operators.

This location is said to contain several essential and commercially saleable minerals including tin/cassiterite, ilmenite, zircon and rare earths. The tailings are located on 590 hectares (ha) of 9,960ha of lease property.

As the project lead, Canada Rare Earth is presently carrying out development work to finalise operational plans and production estimates to extract essential minerals.

The work includes bulk materials tests, flow sheets development, equipment selection, financial modelling and mineral/metallurgical analyses.

Canada Rare Earth CEO Tracy A Moore said: “In the very near term, we expect to capitalise on the essential minerals contained within the tailings by applying more modern approaches, know-how and equipment than has historically been utilised.

“Our goal is to provide value to our shareholders and stakeholders and to become a significant, contributing member of the local community in proximity to the project, which for years produced 3% of the global tin supply.”

The company reached an agreement to acquire a stake in the tailings property in February 2019 for a consideration of $12m (C$16.33m), payable over ten years with a $600,000 deposit at the time of closure.