PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior RareX has announced a A$4-million share placement to accelerate resource definition and development studies at its Cummins Range phosphate rare earths project, in Western Australia.

The ASX-listed company has received firm commitments from institutional, sophisticated and professional investors for the placement of 88.9-million shares, priced at 64.5c each. The placement will include one free attaching option for every two shares subscribed for, exercisable at 6.75c a share and with a 24-month expiry date.

“The great demand from both offshore and domestic institutions for this equity raising is a strong endorsement of our corporate strategy and testament to the quality of the underpinning resource and the Cummins Range project more broadly,” said RareX CEO James Durrant.

“We are looking forwards to progressing rapidly with the plan to define the project in its three stages and accelerate the direct shipping ore (DSO) Stage 1 towards approvals and operations as fast as possible. I want to thank the new and existing shareholders for their trust in our team to deliver for them and we welcome the well-qualified institutions that have joined the register.”

An updated scoping study on the economics of the three-phased project is expected in the June quarter of this year.

The initial scoping study, released last year, estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$430-million, and could produce 8 900 t/y of mixed rare earths carbonate, 128 800 t/y of phosphate concentrate and 13 500 t/y of phosphoric acid.

The study estimated that the project would have a pre-tax net present value of A$633-million and an internal rate of return of 29%, with life-of-mine earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation estimated at A$1.9-billion.

The Cummins Range project would include a mine and flotation beneficiation facility at site producing a rare earth minerals concentrate and a phosphate mineral concentrate which is trucked along mainly sealed roads to Wyndham port. At Wyndham port, a hydroelectric-powered rare earth refinery facility is envisaged which produces a mixed rare earth carbonate product for export with a by-product of merchant grade phosphoric acid.

Additional to these products is the phosphate mineral concentrate which itself contains elevated rare earth grades.