[SMM News] HiTech Minerals Produces Magnesium Oxide from McDermitt Lithium Project

On August 25th, Jindalee Lithium's subsidiary HiTech Minerals has successfully produced high-grade magnesium oxide from magnesium sulphate generated at its McDermitt lithium project in Oregon, marking a notable technical milestone ahead of Jindalee's planned merger with Constellation Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC backed by Antarctica Capital. Once the merger completes, McDermitt will sit under newly formed US Elemental, which plans to list on Nasdaq.

The result builds on McDermitt's prior prefeasibility study, which had confirmed that magnesium can be co-extracted alongside lithium through sulphuric acid leaching but treated it purely as waste discarded as magnesium sulphate with no revenue credit attached. HiTech's new testwork changes that picture, showing the same stream can instead be converted into magnesium oxide, a feedstock used in primary magnesium metal production and in refractories. The company will now move to assess product specifications, scalability, and commercial viability, while Jindalee has separately commissioned independent market analysis to help shape its broader magnesium strategy.

The timing is notable given that China supplies the large majority of the world's primary magnesium, a concentration that has fueled ongoing concern in the US over import exposure. Incoming US Elemental and Jindalee CEO Ian Rodger described the result as "strategically encouraging," pointing to its potential to help derisk the US magnesium supply chain.

SMM View: The real significance here lies in project economics rather than the magnesium market itself. A stream that McDermitt previously discarded at cost now has a demonstrated pathway to becoming a saleable co-product and if it clears the specification, scale, and commercial hurdles HiTech has openly flagged as still outstanding, that pathway will meaningfully improve the project's overall economics.