Everest Metals (ASX: EMC) achieves 97% rubidium recovery at Mt Edon: Pilot plant plans underway

Why Is Everest Metals Corporation (ASX: EMC) Gaining Strategic Significance?

Everest Metals Corporation Ltd (ASX: EMC) has announced a key milestone that could redefine its trajectory and potentially place Australia at the center of a nascent but high-value critical minerals supply chain. On June 3, 2025, the company revealed that its Mt Edon project in Western Australia had achieved up to 97% rubidium recovery using its proprietary Direct Rubidium Extraction (DRE) process. This breakthrough came through a formal Engineering Scoping Study (ESS) developed in partnership with Edith Cowan University (ECU). Everest Metals’ early-mover advantage in rubidium extraction comes at a time when global supply chains are increasingly pivoting toward sovereign-secured, non-Chinese sources for rare and strategic materials.

In the context of Australia’s broader ambition to emerge as a reliable supplier of energy transition minerals—especially following the global scramble to de-risk lithium, nickel, and rare earth dependencies—rubidium represents a relatively untapped opportunity. With China still dominating global rubidium output, Everest Metals’ development of a commercially viable domestic supply route positions it in lockstep with recent policy imperatives emerging from both Canberra and Washington.

What Did EMC’s Engineering Scoping Study Reveal?

The Engineering Scoping Study conducted by ECU’s Mineral Recovery Research Centre (MRRC) detailed a multi-phase process for rubidium recovery that improved from an initial 85% in early-stage testing to 97% in the most recent trials. The ESS recommends a potential processing plant with a capacity between 750 and 1,000 tonnes of rubidium chloride (RbCl) annually. While further feasibility studies are needed, the high recovery rates and successful lab-scale purification suggest compelling commercial potential.

The DRE process developed by Everest Metals is currently protected under a provisional patent filed in February 2025, with a transition to a standard patent now underway. This intellectual property, if standardised, gives EMC defensible leverage in a field that remains both technologically specialised and supply-constrained.

The extraction methodology involves a streamlined flow sheet of mining, beneficiation, roasting, leaching, and crystallisation—efficiently yielding high-purity rubidium chloride. The company also noted the potential for lithium recovery as a by-product, further enhancing the project’s value stack.

How Does Rubidium Fit into the Critical Minerals Landscape?

Rubidium is a lesser-known yet highly strategic alkali metal with applications spanning military night-vision systems, atomic clocks, aerospace propulsion, ion cloud communication, and emerging hydrogen storage batteries. With prices hovering around US$11,700/kg, rubidium is one of the most valuable alkali metals on the market.

Global rubidium production remains extremely limited, and the U.S. Geological Survey classifies rubidium as a critical mineral, citing both its rarity and the narrow supplier base. Notably, rubidium is often co-produced with caesium—another declining commodity—which further amplifies rubidium’s attractiveness as a substitute.

Market forecasts project growth from US$4.46 billion in 2023 to over US$7.2 billion by 2032, implying a compound annual growth rate of 5.48%. The Mt Edon deposit’s contained rubidium oxide (Rb₂O) reserve of more than 7,900 tonnes, with grades of up to 0.33% in high-grade zones, puts Everest Metals among the few players with scalable, high-grade rubidium in a Western jurisdiction.

What Institutional Partnerships and Strategic Moves Are Underpinning This Project?

Everest Metals is collaborating closely with two prominent research institutions—Edith Cowan University and CSIRO—to refine its extraction technology and enhance geological understanding of rubidium, lithium, and caesium mineralisation. The partnership with CSIRO is particularly critical for de-risking the geometallurgical profile of the Mt Edon resource and improving recoveries through targeted processing strategies.

On the commercial side, EMC is actively pursuing membership in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defence Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC). This strategic move aligns with the U.S. Executive Order issued in April 2025, which calls for Section 232 investigations into mineral supply chain dependencies. Given rubidium’s military applications and the national security narrative around critical minerals, EMC’s participation in such a consortium could unlock access to U.S. grant funding and procurement channels.

Additionally, Everest has submitted a funding application to the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) for matched capital to support its next stage of pilot-scale testing. The outcome of this application is expected in June 2025 and could accelerate the move from bench to full-scale pilot operations.

How Is the Market Reacting to Everest Metals Corporation Stock (ASX: EMC)?

As of June 3, 2025, Everest Metals Corporation Ltd (ASX: EMC) is trading at A$0.15, with a modest market capitalisation of approximately A$33.62 million. The company’s 1-year stock return stands at 15.38%, indicating a gradual upward re-rating as institutional awareness builds. While Everest remains a micro-cap within the ASX ecosystem—ranking 1,329 out of 2,322 listed companies—its narrative in the critical minerals and battery metals space is increasingly resonating with investors tracking strategic metals beyond lithium.

Retail and forum-based investor sentiment appears cautiously optimistic. Some institutional flows have begun to circle the stock, particularly in thematic portfolios aligned with Australia’s emerging critical minerals agenda. If Everest secures MRIWA or U.S. DIBC-linked funding, analysts anticipate a valuation re-rate based on de-risked commercial pathway visibility.

What Comes Next for the Mt Edon Rubidium Project?

The immediate next steps for Everest Metals include the construction of a pilot plant capable of producing high-purity rubidium chloride (≥95%) at a weekly scale of around 1 kilogram. This bench-to-pilot transition will test the DRE technology under semi-continuous operating conditions and validate yield consistency, operational reliability, and cost structure.

Engineering design work will continue alongside techno-economic analysis, including mass balance modeling, equipment sizing, CAPEX/OPEX estimates, and risk assessments. Subject to successful pilot trials, Everest Metals expects to initiate construction of a full-scale plant capable of 750–1,000 tonnes RbCl output per annum.

Exploration work is also ongoing at Mt Edon, with the current maiden inferred resource of 3.6 million tonnes open along strike. Follow-up drilling scheduled for H2 2025 could meaningfully expand the resource base, de-risking longer-term scalability and potentially introducing more lithium by-product upside.

Can Everest Metals Create an Export-Grade Rubidium Industry in Australia?

Australia’s federal critical minerals strategy aims to decouple from Chinese supply dominance across rare earths, battery inputs, and strategic metals. Rubidium, while niche, fits squarely into this framework. By leveraging Mt Edon’s high-grade resource, patent-protected DRE technology, and international collaboration, Everest Metals could become a foundational player in a new export-facing rubidium sector.

The company’s dual commercial and geopolitical strategy—anchored in critical mineral self-sufficiency, sovereign supply chain logic, and high-tech industrial inputs—aligns well with both U.S. and Australian national interest frameworks. As other miners chase lithium scale, Everest is carving out a unique leadership position in a more exclusive but extremely high-margin vertical.

Everest Metals Corporation (ASX: EMC) may be small in size, but its rubidium ambitions are geopolitically aligned, technologically defensible, and commercially promising. As the Mt Edon project progresses toward pilot production, it stands as one of the most advanced rubidium initiatives in the Western world—a distinction that could translate into significant strategic and financial upside for early investors.