Arafura Resources Lowers Costs at Nolans Project

Arafura Resources (ASX:ARU) has announced the final outcomes of comprehensive work programs regarding its Nolans rare earths project in Australia’s Northern Territory.
As quoted in the press release:

As foreshadowed in previous ASX announcements, these programs have identified many improvements to the existing project structure that will deliver a more competitive and efficient project with greater capacity to withstand cyclical downturns in rare earth prices.
Improvements to the project include the planned annual output of 110,000 tonnes of a merchant‐grade (54% P2O5) phosphoric acid product for sale to the fertiliser industry. This is possible through the introduction of lower cost phosphoric acid into the pre‐leach circuit of the rare earth extraction flowsheet. When coupled with parallel process improvements in comminution and beneficiation, this results in higher rare earth recoveries, lower operating costs (“OPEX”) and reduced waste streams.
In addition, the expected capital expansion that had initially been required in year 7 of the operation has been deferred to well beyond the project’s initial financing period following investigations into the mining schedule. These studies, targeting preferred phosphate‐rich material types in the project’s resource, deliver an optimal plant feed and throughput that results in an adjustment to the planned annual rare earths output to 14,000 tonnes of TREO equivalent over the 20+ year operational life of the project.

Click here for the full press release.