AUSTRALIA —Clean TeQ Water has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design and early works contract valued at up to AUD 5.4 million by Sunrise Energy Metals. The agreement focuses on developing the scandium recovery circuit for the Syerston Project located in New South Wales, Australia. The contracted scope encompasses the continuous Resin-in-Pulp ion exchange circuit, utilizing the proprietary Moving Bed Ion Exchange platform, alongside the downstream scandium refinery. The base engineering scope is estimated at AUD 2.0 million, billed on a schedule-of-rates basis, with an additional AUD 3.4 million provisional sum allocated for long-lead deliverables to safeguard the project timeline.
This development is significant as it transitions the Syerston Project from preliminary testwork into advanced engineering and procurement phases. By securing long-lead items early, the stakeholders mitigate supply chain bottlenecks that frequently delay critical mineral infrastructure developments. The structured schedule-of-rates pricing model provides financial transparency while allowing flexibility to adapt to evolving engineering requirements without necessitating immediate fixed-cost commitments.
The agreement highlights the growing strategic emphasis on domestic critical mineral processing capabilities within Australia. Scandium is a vital component in aluminum-scandium alloys used in aerospace and defense applications, making secure supply chains a geopolitical priority. Clean TeQ Water, a specialized technology provider focused on water treatment and critical metals recovery, leverages this partnership to validate its ion exchange technology at an industrial scale, while Sunrise Energy Metals retains exclusive rights to deploy this specific methodology for scandium, nickel, and cobalt extraction.
For institutional investors and market participants, this contract award signals robust project momentum and de-risks the capital expenditure trajectory for the broader Syerston development. Revenue recognition for the engineering phase is projected primarily for the upcoming financial year, offering predictable income visibility for the technology provider. Furthermore, the successful execution of this early works phase could serve as a reference case for deploying similar ion exchange methodologies across other high-value mineral extraction projects, including rare earths and uranium processing.
