PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths developer Hastings Technology has reported a 37% increase in the total rare earth oxide (TREO) reserve estimate at its Yangibana project, in the Gascoyne region.
The company on Tuesday said that the ore reserve estimate at Yangibana now stands at 16.7-million tonnes, grading 0.95% TREO.
TREO tonnage has increased by 15%, to 158 400 t, with contained neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) increasing by 18%, to 58 300 t.
Hastings noted that the increased ore reserve included a maiden ore reserve for the Simon’s Find deposit, which is estimated to host some 1.7-million tonnes at 0.57% TREO, of which 52% is NdPr.
“I am delighted to announce this significant increase in the ore reserve at Yangibana, which is the result of our successful exploration programmes across existing and new deposits last year, and will allow us to plan for a mine operating life of at least 15 years,” said executive chairperson Charles Lew.
“Importantly, there remains substantial mineral resource upside potential at Yangibana, which we will further assess in due course.”
“There is no comparable rare earths project like Yangibana. This ore reserve update is a key milestone in our efforts to finalise debt financing so that we can get on with launching into construction activities in the second half of this year.”