Everest Metals’ Mt Edon project is shaping to be a world-class critical mineral project.
Rubidium’s time as a critical mineral may finally have arrived.
The alkali metal plays an essential role in technologies that underpin modern economies, including atomic clocks used for global positioning systems (GPS), telecommunications network synchronisation and research applications across the aerospace, defence and medical sectors.
Among its most specialised applications are the four United States Naval Observatory (USNO), which help maintain the US military frequency standard using a network of 48 weighted atomic clocks.
Much of the digital and automation technology that mining companies have come to rely upon contain rubidium somewhere in the value chain.
The advanced GPS technology that enables autonomous heavy machinery, precise geological surveying, and real-time fleet management, with rubidium atomic clocks supplying the precision heartbeat for stable satellite functioning.
While rubidium has long been recognised as a scientifically important commodity, its significance has grown as governments seek to diversify critical mineral supply chains away from China.
The United States added rubidium to its inaugural critical minerals list in 2018, and it remains on the country’s expanded list of 60 critical minerals.
It is also recognised as a critical mineral by Japan, India and New Zealand.
Australia, however, has yet to follow suit and do the same.
Western Australian explorer Everest Metals believes that could change.
The company has formally written to the Federal Resources Minister and the Critical Minerals Office requesting that rubidium be added to Australia’s Critical Minerals List, arguing the mineral has become increasingly important to global technology and defence supply chains.
The submission follows continued progress at Everest’s flagship Mt Edon project in Western Australia, where the company recently upgraded the Mineral Resource Estimate to 4.3 million tonnes grading 0.23 per cent Rb₂O, with 63 per cent now classified as Indicated Resources.
The update reinforces Mt Edon’s position as Australia’s most advanced rubidium project and one of the world’s highest-grade primary rubidium deposits.
Everest Metals executive chair and chief executive officer Mark Caruso believes shifting geopolitics has transformed rubidium from an obscure speciality metal into a strategically important commodity.
“As with most critical minerals, it’s really about supply and the dominance that China has on global supply of almost whichever mineral you want to mention, including rubidium,” Caruso told Australian Mining. “The world has woken up to that, particularly the US, and it’s made a conscious effort to diversify supply.”
Looking to the US
While Everest’s application focuses on Australian recognition, Caruso said the company’s primary commercial opportunity lies in the United States.
“The real supply chain usage is from America,” he said.
“The Australian inclusion gives it validation and probably gives us some access to federal funding and other funding schemes that are available.”
The timing coincides with closer critical minerals cooperation between Australia and the US, including the US–Australia Critical Minerals Framework, which has created new pathways for Australian miners to access US investment, partnerships and downstream markets.
Caruso said those relationships are already beginning to bear fruit.
“There’s been cross-pollination of US support for Australian mining companies to provide that supply chain.”
Australia reviews its critical minerals and strategic materials lists at least every three years to reflect changing strategic, technological and economic priorities. With the most recent review completed in February 2024, rubidium could be considered during the next update, expected as early as next year.
Building a complete supply chain
Unlike many known rubidium occurrences globally, where the metal is recovered only as a by-product of lithium production, Mt Edon is being developed specifically as a primary rubidium project.
That distinction gives Everest greater flexibility because production is not tied to lithium prices or the economics of another commodity.
The challenge is processing.
There is currently no commercial rubidium production in Australia because extracting the metal has historically been technically difficult.
To overcome that hurdle, Everest has partnered with Edith Cowan University (ECU) on a research program supported by funding from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA).
The collaboration forms a key part of Everest’s ambition to become an integrated producer, mining ore at Mt Edon before processing it into refined rubidium products in Western Australia.
“We’re trying to make a direct rubidium extraction route versus rubidium extracted from a lithium process as a by-product, and I think that’s significant,” Caruso said.
The partnership has already delivered encouraging results.
Metallurgical test work has demonstrated rubidium recoveries of up to 97 per cent, while researchers have developed an environmentally sustainable extraction process capable of producing commercially viable rubidium chloride.
The multi-stage process combines extraction with iterative purification techniques that progressively increase product purity.
It is currently being refined at bench scale and is supported by provisional patent applications covering Everest’s proprietary extraction technology.
The next objective is to transition from laboratory testing to pilot-scale production.
“Clearly, we’ve got one of the highest-grade primary rubidium deposits in the world,” Caruso said. “The next marker for the company is to build a pilot plant rubidium processing facility.
“We’ve fundamentally got that process pinned down with ECU. The next step is validating it through a pilot plant before moving to commercial production.”
A niche market with growing demand
Rubidium remains one of the least transparent mineral markets in the world.
“The market is quite opaque because production is so limited,” Caruso said.
Limited production and highly specialised applications mean pricing information is scarce, but Everest estimates rubidium products currently trade at around $US1200 per kilogram.
The company also cites forecasts suggesting the global rubidium market could grow from approximately $US4.46 billion in 2023 to $US7.2 billion by 2032, driven by increasing demand from electronics, telecommunications, defence and advanced technologies against a backdrop of constrained global supply.
Caruso believes the market’s relatively small size could also mask its key strategic importance.
“There’s a rarity about it. It’s a supply chain demand story, but it’s also a supply chain constraint,” he said. “It is very specialised.”
Rubidium’s uses extend well beyond atomic clocks and GPS systems into a wealth of devices and machines used in everything from quantum computing to biomedical research.
It also plays an important role in defence technologies, where reliable precision timing and specialised chemical compounds are essential.
“One of the most important uses for rubidium is in defence,” Caruso said.
Caruso cited the example of the rubidium-enhanced flares emitted by fighter jets like the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, which burn at specific wavelengths designed to match the radiant intensity of aircraft exhaust, successfully tricking the tracking algorithms of modern infrared-guided surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles.
“It’s a very specialised thing.”
Positioning for the future
Everest already holds a granted mining lease at Mt Edon in Western Australia’s Paynes Find greenstone belt, an area well serviced by existing road and rail infrastructure and recognised for its highly prospective pegmatite systems.
The company has also received a grant from MRIWA under its Mining, Equipment, Technology and Services Innovation Program, supporting Everest’s collaborative research with ECU through matched funding and project facilitation.
For Everest, the immediate priorities are clear: secure recognition of rubidium as a critical mineral in Australia, complete pilot-scale processing and position Mt Edon as a new source of secure supply for global markets increasingly focused on diversification.
If those milestones are achieved, a metal that has spent decades largely outside the spotlight could become an increasingly important part of Australia’s critical minerals story.