Northern Minerals’ Browns Range Heavy Rare Earths Pilot Plant Project (commonly known as the Pilot Plant Project) officially opened on Friday 27 July, in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. The project has been predicted by the Government officials to mark the start of a new era for tech metals for WA.
The 100 per cent owned Pilot Plant Project is set to mark Northern Minerals as the first producer of heavy rare earths (HREs), outside of China. The main rare earth products set to be mined are dysprosium and terbium. Dysprosium is a common element used in the production of DyNdFeB (dysprosium neodymium ironboron) magnets, a vital element used in the creation of electric vehicle motors and other sustainable energy products such as wind turbines.
The three-year project aims to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the company’s proposed larger scale project, in addition to allowing Northern Minerals to learn more about the geology and processing characteristics of the ore. The project is also set to include the production of mixed rare earth carbonates, used for off-take sales.
The Pilot Plant Project’s official opening was visited by Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan late last week, along with other WA Government officials.
“Tech metals are the minerals of the 21st century, and WA has some of the biggest deposits in the world,” said MacTiernan at the ceremony, “the Browns Range pilot processing plant is a major milestone for this industry and will be a major job-creator for the Kimberley region and Western Australia”.
The project is predicted to process up to 180,000 tonnes of heavy rare earth ore over the three-year lifespan, (which is only 15 per cent of the final full-scale production of the project) with Government officials predicting that the project is likely to generate $20 million per annum in rare earth sales. The full-scale plant is planned to commence operations in 2020-21.
During its construction phase, the Pilot Plant Project created approximately 62 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs for the Kimberley, with officials forecasting that 33 FTE positions are also expected to be created throughout the project’s operation.
“The opening of the Browns Range Heavy Rare Earths Project is nearly eight years in the making, since the initial discovery in 2010,” commented CEO and Managing Director of Northern Minerals, George Bauk.
“There are not too many times when a Managing Director can stand up and launch a new industry in Australia and this is what we are doing today,” he said.
Northern Minerals have also stated that they will be exploring options for further downstream processing, which in turn would allow Australian HRE products to be sold to a greater range of markets globally.
More information on this project can be accessed here.