Northern Minerals has inked a deal with Iluka Resources to supply the company with rare earths concentrate sourced from its Browns Range project in northern Western Australia.
The agreement covers the asset’s initial 8-year-plus mine life and includes the supply of 30,500 tonnes of contained total rare earth oxides, or “TREO”. The deal also includes a $78 million funding package with Iluka to establish commercial-scale production at the project.
As part of the funding component, Iluka will inject up to $73 million into the project whilst the $5 million balance will be derived from a non-underwritten share purchase plan of up to 125 million shares at 4c each.
The initial placement and funding conditions are subject to a number of provisions and the share offering is set to hit the market in a number of days.
Northern says the financial backing will allow it to complete a definitive feasibility study, or “DFS” for a mine along with a commercial-scale beneficiation plant at the Browns Range rare earths project.
Management believes cash from the deal will provide ongoing working capital to the project and contribute to the future equity component of the capital expenditure and commissioning costs tied to Browns Range’s development.
Northern already lays claim to a 10.81 million tonne resource at the project grading 0.76 per cent TREO for 81,450 tonnes and plans on completing a DFS over the project’s largest deposit, Wolverine, by September next year.
Following the DFS the company will look to churn out its first product sometime in 2026.
Iluka’s interest in Northern Minerals’ resources is tied to the asset’s high concentration of the “heavy rare earths” dysprosium and terbium, two of the most lucrative types of rare earths due to the commodities widespread use in the production of electric vehicles.
Notably, Browns Range boasts a high concentration of heavy rare earths material with almost 88 per cent of the operation’s resources sitting in the lucrative category.
Perth-based Iluka is currently constructing one of the country’s first fully integrated rare earths refineries and says the deal to pick up Northern’s rare earths concentrate will complement its own line-up of materials.
The Browns Range project is located on the western side of a mineralised geological feature known as the “Browns Range Dome”.
According to Northern, only 15 per cent of the zone has been explored so far, leaving the company with a raft of exploration upside.
Northern Minerals Executive Chairman Nick Curtis said:“These funding initiatives and our strategic partnership with Iluka are a major step towards achieving our goal of developing Browns Range into a significant alternative producer of dysprosium and terbium, which are critical metals in a low carbon future increasingly reliant on rare earth permanent magnetic electric motors.”
Intriguingly, Northern plans to plough some of the funds from the deal with Iluka into the development of a heavy rare earths mine at Browns Range, a rarity in the sector with only a handful existing worldwide – all of which are in China.
With the prices of dysprosium, terbium, yttrium and the rest of Northern’s basket of around 17 rare earth elements all undergoing a stellar period of growth the company appears well positioned to ride the wave.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
