Regulators in Victoria, Australia have approved the first phase of domestic mineral developer Astron's Donald rare earths and mineral sands project, paving the way to for first production in 2027.
Astron will make a final investment decision on the project later this year after securing financing, it said today.
The company will produce an average of 7,200 t/yr of rare earth concentrate and 228,700 t/yr of heavy mineral concentrate during the project's first phase, according to its final feasibility study.
US producer Energy Fuels, which owns 49pc of the project, will buy all the project's rare earth output at market prices during the first phase.
Astron has also signed non-binding deals accounting for 70pc of the project's phase one heavy mineral output.
It plans to increase the Donald project's average rare earth production to 13,000 t/yr and its average heavy mineral concentrate production to 353,700 t/yr by the end of its second phase. But the company's phase two plans are still at a pre-feasibility stage.
The Donald project houses neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium deposits.
Donald's approval comes months after Australian rare earth developer VHM delayed the opening and ramp-up of its 4,300 t/yr Goschen rare earths project, in Victoria, to late-2026.
VHM plans to increase production at Goschen to 9,000 t/yr towards the end of 2029.
