PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths developer Arafura Resources has revealed plans to build a separation plant at its Nolas neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) project, in the Northern Territory.
Arafura had previously planned for the separation plant to be located offshore, however, the company said on Wednesday that process and configuration efficiencies identified through the project’s definitive feasibility study and the company’s extensive test work and flowsheet piloting programmes have made the relocation of the plant to the Nolans site more feasible.
The decision is also expected to mitigate some of the project’s operational risks.
“We are very pleased to have settled on the site for the project’s separation plant. This makes Nolans a 100% Australian domiciled project and unlocks significant value prior to product export," said Arafura MD Gavin Lockyer.
“Nolans will soon represent a new long-term, secure supply of 3 600 t of NdPr oxide each year and building the separation plant at the project site will bring additional benefits to the Northern Territory and in particular to the Central Australian region.”
The Nolans project, including the separation plant, is estimated to require a capital investment of $680-million. The Nolans project is expected to have a maximum mining rate of five-million tonnes a year for the majority of the mine life, with the steady-state beneficiation plant feed rate estimated at 525 000 t/y for the first 11 years of operation.
An additional 20 to 25 jobs will be created with the separation plant located at Nolans, with the project’s total permanent workforce to be about 350 to 370, including contractors.