Hastings Technology Metals has announced that its Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia will continue on a staged development strategy.
The company hopes that the strategy will reduce upfront capital requirements and project execution risks, as well as provide a faster cash flow pathway by the first quarter of 2025.
The project capital cost has been increased to $948 million, a 40 per cent increase from the 2020–21 estimate.
“The Yangibana rare earths project is one of the world’s most advanced greenfield rare earth projects and is well-timed to meet the forecast supply gap for magnet rare earth elements which are required to support the global transition to clean energy,” Hastings executive chair Charles Lew said.
Located in the Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of WA, Yangibana contains one of the most highly valued neodymium and praseodymium concentrate (NdPr) deposits of the world, with a ratio of up to 52 per cent.
Hastings will initially focus on construction of the Yangibana mine and beneficiation plant to produce rare earth concentrate.
“A comprehensive project review undertaken by our new experienced management team has confirmed that this world-class project remains financially and operationally robust, with the investment in a stage one mining and beneficiation plant being a compelling proposition,” Lew said.
“The implementation of a two-stage development strategy for Yangibana will lower the upfront capital funding requirements, reduce the project execution risk and enable a faster pathway to early project cash flows which can be used to fund stage two plant construction.”