Northern powers on for full-scale WA rare earths processing hub

Heavy rare earths player Northern Minerals has appointed GR Engineering Services and MACA Interquip to conduct early phase engineering and design work for its proposed commercial-scale beneficiation plant at Browns Range, in north the of WA.

The company considers the operation’s Wolverine resource to be amongst the nation’s highest-grade dysprosium and terbium orebodies and says the looming award of the contract is a key step in updating its definitive feasibility study for a full-scale processing hub.

The company says the contractors will now perform all engineering and design activities required to enter into an executable lump sum engineering procurement and construction contract to deliver the beneficiation plant.

The early contractor involvement is expected to be completed around June next year and the company says its preferred contractor will be notified during the September quarter of 2023.

Dysprosium and terbium form part of a lucrative class of rare earths classed as “heavy” and are key ingredients in the construction of permanent magnets in an electric vehicle motor.

The company has to-date been cultivating its heavy rare earths processing capabilities by way of a dedicated pilot plant; however, the construction of a commercial processing facility could see Northern transform itself into one of the world’s first serious heavy rare earth producers outside of China.

There are only around 5 active processing facilities for heavy rare earths in the world and they are currently all located in China. Given the daunting statistic if Northern is able to get its commercial scale plant up and running it could position itself in an enviable and profitable position by breaking a long-standing Chinese monopoly.

In comparison to its Chinese competitors, Browns Range produces ore with a heavy rare earths grade of between 600 and 800 parts per million dysprosium. According to Northern Minerals, mining and processing techniques in China only produces 20 to 40 ppm of dysprosium.

To set up a processing flow sheet that would ultimately be reliable enough to build a much larger-scale plant—up to 10 times bigger—Northern initially constructed its $70 million Browns Range heavy rare earths pilot facility.

In late 2018, the company started producing heavy rare earth carbonate as part of a three-year pilot study to determine the economic and short-term viability of a larger-scale operation at Browns Range.

The work follows a 2015 feasibility assessment that indicated at full capacity the project could deliver exceptional free cash flows of $176 million per year for more than 11 years of the project’s initial operating life at a cost of $329 million.

Northern Minerals Executive Chairman Nicholas Curtis said:“Letting of these contracts is a significant step towards updating the definitive feasibility study for a commercial-scale beneficiation plant at Browns Range, centred initially on our Wolverine resource, which we believe is the highest-grade dysprosium and terbium orebody in Australia.”

The company is also enjoying solid success with the drill bit with exploration leading into a massive 47 per cent increase to the mineral resource at its Wolverine deposit. The asset now boasts a 6.44 million tonnes inventory at 0.96 per cent total rare earth oxides for 61,492 tonnes of TREO.

The update follows an independent review by mining consultancy group CSA Global in October.

That same month the company tied down a $78 million funding package with Iluka Resources to supply the company with rare earths concentrate from its Browns Range project. The agreement includes the supply of 30,500 tonnes of contained TREO each year for the asset’s initial 8-year-plus mine life.

Northern also recently banked a $3.9 million refund from the ATO as part of the Federal Government’s research and development tax offset scheme for activities concluded at its Browns Range project in the Pilbara. The return follows ongoing trial beneficiation and hydrometallurgical work aimed at expanding the company’s expertise in the handling of its heavy rare earth resources.

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