The Kipawa deposit is presently considered open both laterally and at depth, though to various degrees.

The association of radioactive mineralization with rare elements in the vicinity of the Kipawa Complex is likely to represent a polymetallic deposit type of rare elements (Zr, Y, Nb, Be, U, Th, Ta, REE and Ga) associated with peralkaline syenite occurrences.

Rare earth-yttrium-zirconium mineralization at the Kipawa deposit is contained in medium grained silicates disseminated in meso to mafic syenites and impure marbles (up to 20% per volume). Grains are distinct and generally well crystallized.

Three minerals are presently considered as an economical source of rare earths on the Kipawa deposit, namely eudialyte (a sodic silicate), yttro-titanite/mosandrite (titanite silicate) and britholite (calcic silico-phosphate) for rare-earth-yttrium. Minor apatite (a phosphate) is also present in places, furnishing some of the light rare earths. Vlasovite/gittinsite (sodic and calcic silicates) and eudialite (sodic silicate) were once considered as a source for a possible zirconium by-product, but this is no longer the case. Each of these is described in the sections below, followed by a short section on ore genesis.

While vlasovite and its alteration mineral gittinsite are spread in a fairly uniform manner throughout the syenitic body, this is not the case for the other minerals. Specifically, three vertically-stacked mineralized zones have been defined based on their spatial characteristics: the Eudialyte, Mosandrite and Britholite zones. Despite their name, the different zones contain a mix of potentially economic minerals. The name simply indicates the dominant REE mineral present in that zone.

The Eudialyte zone consists of intermixed eudialyte and mosandrite/yttro-titanite with trace britholite (usually identified as "honey brown mineral"). It sits near the top of the syenite body and is not associated with any large calco-silicate horizon. The Eudialyte zone represents 57% of the rare earth-yttrium resources.

The Mosandrite zone also consists of intermixed eudialyte and mosandrite/yttro-titanite but with a much lesser relative quantity of eudialyte and some added britholite. It sits between the Eudialyte and Britholite zone and is, in part, associated with the first major calc-silicate horizon. It incorporates 23% of rare earth-yttrium resources.

Lastly, the Britholite zone consists of intermixed mosandrite/yttro-titanite and britholite. It sits at or very near the lower contact of the complex and is mainly contained within the bottom calc-silicate horizon which almost always includes marbles. The Britholite mineralized zone is mostly fairly thin, discontinuous in grade and incorporates roughly 20% of existing rare earth-yttrium resources.

A conventional truck-and-shovel open pit mine has been considered to be the most appropriate mining method. One (1) front wheel loader with a bucket size of 5.25 m³ will be used for production. The selected front wheel loader will load three (3) 55-tonne mine trucks.

At the high grade ore loading facility located at the mine site, an excavator with a 6.5 m³ bucket size will re-handle the ore and load eight (8) 40-tonne road haulers. There will be the auxiliary excavator available with the capacity to load the haulage trucks when there is preventive maintenance or unexpected downtime for the main loading equipment. Mining ramps and roads will have a width of 20.7 m and a maximum gradient of 10% which respects regulations for 2-lane traffic in all seasons.

The open pit mine is designed to be mined with a double benching arrangement and includes a 14 m bench for every 60 m of vertical height which does not intersect the ramp. The mining will take place between elevation 370 and 245 on 5 m benches to minimize the dilution and to maximise the mining recovery. The dilution and the ore loss per block were estimated at 5% and 4.76%, respectively. This level of dilution and ore loss is consistent with the North American mining industry.

The mining plan will produce 55,500 tonnes of TREO for the entire mine life averaging more than 3,650 tpd of TREO during the full production years (Years 2 to 14). The main revenue contributors are dysprosium oxide, followed by neodymium oxide, yttrium oxide, and terbium oxide.

The process plant feed design is 1,332,250 tonnes of ore per year or 3,650 tonnes of ore per day.

The bulk material conveyed by trucks from the open pit will be discharged at the primary crushing area. The crushing system will be an open loop type, with a primary and a secondary crusher. The primary crushing will take place in the primary crushing building. The bulk material will go through various mechanical equipment such as a rock breaker, a grizzly screen, a dump hopper apron feeder, a roll crusher and then will be directed to the secondary crushing building via conveyor #1. Once the material has reached the secondary crushing area, the oversize material will go through various equipment such as a screen, a surge hopper, a vibrating feeder and then a cone crusher. After the material has gone through the secondary crushing building, it will be conveyed via conveyor #2 to the crushed ore storage silo. Throughout the crushing process, dust collection installed in appropriate locations, will recover dust produced. The storage silo will have a storage capacity of 18 hours at a production rate of 3,650 tonnes per day, with a live capacity is 1,558 m³ (2,804 tonnes @ 1.8 SG).

The crushed ore will be conveyed to the process plant directly in the grinding circuit. The entire process plant building dimensions will be 133.3 m long, 60 m wide with a height of 25 m (under the trusses). The grinding circuit will have one rod mill, classifier, a set of cyclones and two pumps (one in operation and one spare) to feed the cyclones. The magnetic separation area will be located next to the grinding circuit and will include 5 magnetic separators with a possibility of 6 if required.

In another area of the building, there will be tanks for leaching, re-pulping, neutralization and precipitation, filters, a thickener, the required pumps and sump pumps. Reservoirs will also be there for reagents storage and distribution. Outside the building there will be thickeners, fresh and process water tanks as well as chemical reactive storage (limestone, lime, sulfuric acid, sodium carbonate, etc.).

Before the REE can be precipitated as bulk chemical concentrate, a step to remove impurities is required. Both solvent extraction and ion exchange were tested at the laboratory.

A preliminary solvent extraction shake-out test was carried out. Major crud/emulsion formation was observed as an intermediate layer between the organic and aqueous phases, which substantially slows down the phase disengagement.

Ion exchange resins were also considered in addition to solvent extraction for this application because typically an IX circuit is more economical than a SX circuit for low solution concentrations. Dow resins were mixed with a beaker of PLS for a 24 hour period. The results were very encouraging as the solution assays before and after showed loading of impurities on the resin, but no REE. Therefore, Ion exchange using Dow resin was selected in the process flowsheet ultimately for removing impurities from the neutralization PLS.