Hastings / Yangibana19 Apr 2021 17:44
https://www.australianmining.com.au/features/rare-earths-to-leave-global-rarity-behind/
Companies such as Hastings Technology Metals are confident in their rare earths offering to global markets.
Its strength lies in the high NdPr:TREO (total rare earth oxides) ratio of 40-50 per cent at the Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia.
The project stands in stark contrast to the orebodies in the rest of Australia (including at Lynas’ Mt Weld operation in Western Australia), South America and China, where they hover around a ratio of 20 per cent.
This gives Hastings 75-175 per cent higher value ore products than any rare earth project already in production.
It also puts Hastings in a comfortable position when competing in the supply of the most relevant critical materials needed in EVs, wind turbines and robotics.
“When we first drilled the ground in Yangibana and the results came through in mid-2014, we discovered a high NdPr:TREO ratio,” Hastings chairman Charles Lew says.
Lew knew that developing the process flow was not going to be simple given the lack of available expertise in rare earths processing in Australia.
But it was the quality of the orebody that turned heads and captured the interest of two ex-Lynas employees.
Robin Zhang, former Lynas senior project manager of development, is now part of Hastings’ management team as process engineering manager.
A similar move was made by ex-Lynas chief operating officer Jean Claude Steinmetz, who has become a non-executive director at Hastings.
“(Steinmetz) was amazed at the 40 per cent NdPr:TREO ratio orebody at Yangibana and said he didn’t think any orebody was quite as spectacular as the (number that the Yangibana orebody offers),” Lew says.
ASM plans to develop a
metal refining plant in Korea.
“He and (Zhang) assisted in developing the process flow and introducing our orebody to customers around the world, whether they were in Japan, China or Europe.
“Through those early days of developing the process flowsheet and travelling internationally, I can see where the opportunity lies for Hastings and where our market will be in the future.”
Hastings is targeting Germany as its primary market, with a contract due to be finalised with German-originated thyssenkrupp for about half of the company’s production volume (i.e. 7500 tonnes of mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC)) at Yangibana.
Hastings also signed an agreement with German automotive supplier Schaeffler Technologies for 5000 tonnes of Yangibana MREC over a 10-year period.
With construction scheduled to start at Yangibana in the second quarter of this year, Hastings secured commitments to raise more than $100 million in February.
Lew says the company is well-positioned to supply a meaningful volume of rare earths in the market, with a view to commence production by the end of 2023.
Hastings and ASM will be among the Australian miners that are supporting the global aspiration to tr
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