Australian-listed microcap Iondrive Technologies expects latest positive rare earth recovery rates from US testwork to boost the economic credentials of a commercial metal recycling operation outlined in a November 2025 techno-economic analysis (TEA).
The company said its proprietary IONSolv metal recovery technology – which it promotes as a “modular, closed-loop platform for urban mining” – achieved 93.5% recovery of dysprosium from e-waste supplied by US-based Colt Recycling. The result, part of an independent evaluation by Canadian firm Kingston Process Metallurgy, marked the “first successful optimisation of the IONSolv platform for heavy rare earth recovery and substantially exceeds the 32.5% dysprosium recovery assumption used in the company’s previously announced TEA”, Iondrive said.
It said the validation program also achieved improved recoveries of light rare earth elements used in permanent magnet production such as neodymium (up from 93.8% reported in April this year, to 96.5% in the latest testing) and praseodymium (95.1% to 96.5%). Iron rejection was quantified at 99.9% through a solvent extraction step, with no measurable co-extraction of targeted rare earth elements, Iondrive management said. “The results demonstrate that the IONSolv platform can effectively recover both light and heavy rare earth elements while selectively removing contaminants that typically complicate downstream processing,” the company said.
Former Australian mineral explorer Southern Gold acquired the rights to technologies developed by University of Adelaide researchers Shizhang Qiao and Zaiping Guo for A$1.2 million in 2023. The technologies included what was described as a low cost, environmentally friendly, highly selective deep eutectic solvent “which has the potential to change the way lithium ion batteries are recycled worldwide”.
Southern Gold subsequently rebranded as Iondrive. The company says its solvent-based extraction platform, IONSolv, has been engineered to recover “high-value critical minerals from complex waste streams with exceptional selectivity, efficiency and purity”.
Iondrive reported in October last year it had secured a €2.07m (A$3.7 million) grant from the government of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany and joined a European consortium aiming to establish a closed-loop battery recycling industry.
Iondrive’s November 2025 TEA proposed a modular 2,000-tonne-per-annum processing plant and 32.5% dysprosium recovery rate superseded in the latest testing. The company said the “commercially representative” e-waste supplied by Colt Recycling also contained higher iron levels and lower rare earth grades than those assumed in its TEA.
“Dysprosium is among the most strategically constrained and highest-value elements in the magnet bundle, and recovering targets like this at above 93%, well above the TEA assumption, is a genuine step-change for the platform,” Iondrive managing director Lewis Utting said.
“Our April update confirmed strong neodymium and praseodymium extraction, which underpin the bulk of the magnet REE market value.
“These latest results extend that strength into the HRE elements as well, alongside high iron rejection with no measurable co-extraction of the target rare earths.
“We look forward to updating the TEA through the next phase into a PFS.
“Demonstrating use cases that are both technically effective and commercially viable is central to our commercialisation strategy and our alignment with US supply-chain resilience priorities.”
Utting said Iondrive would continue to evaluate IONSolv’s ability to recover metals from a range of feedstocks, including sorted e-waste ferrous streams enriched through mechanical and sensor-based sorting technologies, OEM rare earth magnet manufacturing scrap and end-of-life electric vehicle motors, wind turbine components and industrial motor stators.
An ongoing collaboration with Colt Recycling formed part of a broader strategy to support emerging Western rare earth supply chains and strengthen critical mineral recycling capabilities in the United States and other allied markets.
Iondrive has a current market value of about $27 million.
