SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has been awarded grant funding of $30 million under the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) which will contribute to the development of an $90.8 million uncommon earth separation plant at its Nolans Project (Nolans).
The $1.3b MMI forms a half of the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Roadmap that goals to develop Australia as a regional resources technology and critical minerals processing hub inside 10 years.
The Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) continues to construct on broad Australian, Territory and export partner authorities support for Nolans.
The grant awarded to Arafura falls under the MMI’s Collaboration Stream, which provides funding to a small variety of transformational projects that will create and facilitate collaborative ecosystems.
Nolans, 135 kilometres north of Alice Springs, is Australia’s solely shovel-ready Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr) project. It is a globally significant development with potential to provide round 5 per cent of world NdPr oxide demand, with an ore to oxide enterprise mannequin that will see downstream processing established locally and allow Australia to play a quantity one role inside the diversification of critical uncooked materials.
The Nolans separation plant would be the primary of its kind in Australia and the second outside China, producing separated uncommon earth oxides and enabling the event of diversified uncommon earth provide chains. Rare earth separation technology doesn’t currently exist in Australia, and Nolans presents an alternative to develop a higher worth product that leverages Australian mineral processing expertise.
Following construction of the separation plant, there is the potential for hub processing alternatives to be developed for the processing of different uncommon earth-rich feedstock, enabling the advantages of infrastructure funding and native jobs to be additional dispersed.
“This grant is an thrilling milestone for Arafura, recognising the strategic significance of the Nolans Project and its place inside the way forward for critical minerals processing in Australia,” Arafura Managing Director Gavin Lockyer said.
“Rare earths are critical to the manufacture of electrical vehicles and wind turbines, with demand growth forecast to be exponential in coming decades. Australia has a window of alternative to make investments in strategically important uncommon earths projects such as Nolans and maximise the native jobs and funding advantages of the clear energy revolution”.
Arafura is targeting a Final Investment Decision for Nolans inside the second half 2022, with detailed front-end engineering and design (FEED), offtake and project funding actions underway.
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