Photo by: Bloombeg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed rare earths developer Peak Resources is hoping to pull the trigger on its $367-million Ngualla rare earths project, in Tanzania, by 2016/17, with MD Darren Townsend saying on Thursday that the company is working on reducing capital expenditure on the project.
“We are looking at a number of opportunities to further increase the economics of the project,” Townsend told delegates at the Africa Downunder conference, in Perth.
Peak was in the midst of completing a bankable feasibility study (BFS) of the Ngualla project and, in July, launched a drilling programme to support the detailed engineering requirements of the BFS.
“While the prefeasibility study (PFS) delivered robust economics, we are focused on optimising returns even further and are investigating a range of beneficiation, processing and site options,” Townsend said.
A 2014 PFS estimated that the Ngualla project could deliver some 10 000 t/y of separated high-purity rare-earth oxides over a mine life of 58 years. The project was estimated to have an operating cost of $11.74/kg and would deliver a net present value of $1.3-billion and an internal rate of return of 39%.
Townsend said on Thursday that, along with the completion of the BFS, financing and offtake discussions would be progressed over the next 12 months or so, but Peak had set a target of 2018 for plant commissioning.