Australian mineral mining company Hastings Technology Metals has signed an initial agreement with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment to explore building a metal refinery in the kingdom in preparation for the opening of Hastings' Yangibana mine.
Hastings is expecting to be able to produce up to 37,000 t/yr of rare earth concentrates at Yangibana in Australia's New South Wales, beginning in the second quarter of 2027. The development also houses 20.9mn t of proven and probable rare earth ores, making it Australia's third-largest planned rare earth mine.
The ASX-listed company is planning to enter the downstream rare earth supply chain by constructing a concentrate processing plant in either Western Australia, Estonia or Saudi Arabia. The company has not committed to constructing refineries in any of those locations at this stage.
The recent agreement between Hastings and the Saudi Arabian government commits the kingdom to providing regulatory guidance to the company and helping it to secure Saudi-based capital and joint-venture partners for the refinery.
Hastings currently has plans to ship refined rare earth metals to Hong Kong-listed magnet maker JL Mag and Canada-listed rare earth processor Neo Performance Materials, after 2027. Chinese magnet producer Jinli Magnet bought a 9.8pc stake in Hastings earlier this year and agreed to support its New South Wales operations.
Manufacturers across a range of sectors, including the electric vehicle, air conditioning, and wind turbine industries, use neodymium and praseodymium, two of the rare earth elements found at the Yangibana mine, to produce industrial-grade magnets.
Since 2019, Argus' praseodymium-neodymium oxide min 99pc fob China price has increased by more than 40pc, from $40,750/t to $57,150/t.
