The rare earth elements (REE) have become increasingly important as the world transitions towards electrification, with four of the REE (Pr, Nd, Tb and Dy) required for the permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicles. The REEs feature on virtually every country’s published ‘critical minerals list’; due to both their importance as well as the geopolitical risks associated with lack of diversification of supply. Economically significant REE deposits can usually be grouped into two broad categories – namely the higher-grade hard rock and mineral sands deposits amenable to beneficiation (typically with monazite, bastnaesite and xenotime mineralisation), and lower grade ion adsorbed or ‘clay-hosted’ deposits. There are several advanced high-grade REE projects in Australia and one operating mine, while clay-hosted deposits have only received significant attention in the last five years and are at earlier stages of development. The ADARER Project (Accelerating Development of Australia’s Rare Earth Resources), funded by the Commonwealth Government, was operated under the umbrella of the Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub. This multi-agency project targeted the development of Australia’s low-grade REE deposits, with a specific focus on clay-hosted REEs. One aspect of the ADARER project was to examine the processing options and associated overall flow sheets required to recover rare earths from Australian clay-hosted deposits. While the process routes and associated costs for higher grade projects have been well documented, the processing of clay-hosted deposits is in its infancy in Australia. This paper outlines the impacts of several key process parameters on the overall project economics for these types of REE projects located in Australia. This includes a consideration of the grade of the deposit, the proportion of light and heavy rare earths, the type of leaching technology employed, reagent costs, washing requirements for the clay and the overall process flow sheet complexity.