In today’s episode, we're joined by Jacob Deysel, CEO of Critica, a company that is exploring rare earths in Western Australia. Jacob brings a wealth of experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions, and is now focused on building a project in Australia at a time when rare earths are front and centre in the global supply chain conversation.

We'll be discussing Critica’s roadmap built around Scale, Simplicity, and Speed and what it really takes to deliver on that. We’ll also touch on the challenges of metallurgy and processing, competing in a market dominated by China, and the all-important path to commercialisation and offtake agreements. Finally, we’ll hear Jacob’s personal reflections on leadership, lessons from his career, and what excites him most as he drives Critica forward.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Critica is moving beyond just exploration to rebrand as Australia's next rare earth developer, with its flagship Jupiter Project positioned as the largest clay-hosted rare earth deposit in Australia.


• The Jupiter project is differentiated by its scale, simplicity, and speed. A key technical advantage is its highly homogeneous deposit and a clean flow sheet that achieves 95% mass rejection


• Critica has mitigated key industry risks by being a well-funded project with a milestone-driven approach to spending. Its location in Western Australia, a Tier 1 jurisdiction with stable government 


• Critica's goal is not to replace China, but to build a preferred non-China alternative for rare earth supply, focusing on producing a traceable, ESG-compliant feedstock

BEST MOMENTS

1. "We are no longer just an explorer in the rare earth space. Under my leadership, Critica is rebadging... and we're moving forward as being Australia's next rare earth developer."


2. "The biggest technical risk that most companies struggle with is metallurgy at scale... We are addressing that through a number of parallel work streams that's running at the moment."


3. "Being a clay deposit have allowed us to reduce the mass upfront by 95%, upgrade the grade, the feed grade from the resource by about 800% before we get to leaching."


4. "We are not replacing China, we are building a preferred non-China alternative in Western Australia... OEMs are really looking for traceable, ESG safe, compliant rare earth feedstock."

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Mail:        ⁠rob@mining-international.org⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠

X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠ 

Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠

GUEST SOCIALS 

https://critica.limited/

https://x.com/Critica_CRI

CONTACT METHOD

⁠rob@mining-international.org⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠

Podcast Description

Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics. 

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/