Power Minerals (ASX:PNN) flags 40% magnet rare earth split at Morro do Ferro

Bastnasite hosts the Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb while cerium sits in a separate mineral phase

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN) has shifted the conversation at its Morro do Ferro project in Minas Gerais from grade to mineralogy, and the distinction matters more than it might sound.

The Brazilian explorer has kicked off a mineralogical characterisation program at Morro do Ferro that, on the company’s reading of historical work by the University of São Paulo, points to a clean split between high-value magnet rare earths and low-value cerium. The magnet elements, Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb, sit predominantly in bastnasite. The cerium sits in a separate mineral phase called cerianite.

If that split holds up under further work, Power thinks it can design a mine plan and flowsheet that selectively reduces cerium before chemical processing, leaving a concentrate enriched in the four oxides the market actually pays for.

Some of the grades being referenced are striking. Using a 0.5% TREO cutoff across the existing drilling database, the non-cerium inventory averages 4,521ppm Nd2O3 plus Pr6O11, with peaks above 3% NdPr in single intervals. Dysprosium peaks at 1,024ppm.

Why the cerium problem is the rare earth problem

Most rare earth projects globally are dragged down by cerium. It is abundant, it is cheap, and it inflates total rare earth oxide grade headlines without contributing much to the actual revenue line. The price differential is severe.

Terbium oxide trades around US$903 per kilogram on the prices Power cites. Lanthanum oxide trades at US$0.63. Power’s pitch is that Morro do Ferro’s geology may let it sidestep the worst of this drag.

The company estimates that Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb account for about 98% of the contained rare earth value in the non-cerium inventory, despite making up roughly 40% of that inventory by mass. If beneficiation can reject cerianite ahead of chemical processing, the implications run through reagent consumption, downstream circuit size, residue management and radiation handling.

What changed between Santa Anna and Morro do Ferro

Readers who followed Power’s earlier story will remember Santa Anna in Goiás, where shallow auger drilling produced eye-catching TREO grades but left open the question of continuity at depth. Morro do Ferro is a different proposition, sitting within the well-studied Poços de Caldas alkaline complex with diamond core drilling already on the ground dating back to 2012 and 2014.

That historical work, combined with Power’s February 2026 re-sampling and the maiden drill program now underway, is what underpins today’s mineralogical narrative. The Manifesto de Mina title is also an unusual asset. It grants direct ownership rather than a standard mining concession, with no expiration date, which the company argues should compress the permitting timeline.

The skeptical read is that mineralogical promise is not metallurgical proof. Lab-scale separation of cerianite from bastnasite is one thing. Doing it at commercial scale with stable recoveries is another, and that work has not yet been done.

What the maiden drill assays now have to deliver

Power has guided that initial assays from the maiden diamond drilling program are expected in July 2026, which is to say imminently. Those results matter on two fronts.

Firstly, they need to confirm that the magnet rare earth distribution observed in the historical 2012 and 2014 holes extends across the broader deposit footprint, not just within the high-grade core. Secondly, the new core will feed the mineralogical and metallurgical studies that have to prove the cerium rejection thesis under more rigorous conditions.

We think the next eight to twelve weeks are the single most important window in this project’s near-term timeline. Mineralogical theory needs assay confirmation. Without it, the differentiation pitch is just a slide deck.

The Investors Takeaway for Power Minerals

Power Minerals is building a coherent narrative around Morro do Ferro that, on paper, addresses the two structural problems with most rare earth developments. Diluted product value from cerium overhang, and high processing costs from radioactive mineral handling.

The numbers, the geology and the Manifesto de Mina tenure all support the differentiated-project framing. What is missing is metallurgical confirmation that the cerium can actually be rejected economically at scale, and a maiden resource that turns these scattered high-grade intervals into something investors can value. Readers can see our prior coverage of Power’s strategic placement and pivot to Morro do Ferro at stocksdownunder.

If the July assays land in line with the existing database and the mineralogical work confirms the bastnasite-cerianite split, this becomes a much more interesting story heading into the second half of 2026. If they disappoint, the differentiation pitch loses its anchor quickly.