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Hastings Revises Capital Costs for Yangibana Project
Mar. 11, 2019 07:04AM PST
Hastings board has approved the release of the updated capital cost estimate for the Yangibana rare earths mine to approximately AU$427 million.
Hastings Technology Metals Limited (ASX:HAS) has announced its board has approved the release of the updated capital cost estimate for the Yangibana rare earths mine to approximately AU$427 million.
As quoted from the press release:
The mine located 270 kms north-east of Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia will be a robust, low cost and high cash generating asset with expansion potential that sets Hastings up for further growth poised to take advantage of the escalating electric vehicle (EV) market.
Hastings executive chairman, Charles Lew said “Selection of global Tier 1 equipment suppliers, refinements of the process plant layout and changes to the tailings storage facility give further confidence in the constructability and operability of the project.”
Future expansion options have been enabled through process design improvements allowing further development of the largely unexplored tenement package.
Project Capital Cost
Since the Definitive Feasibility Study (November 2017), the project NPV has decreased by 4 percent to AU$447 million due to capital cost increases as a result of the board mandated decision to source, where possible, only Tier 1 process plant equipment suppliers with the capabilities to provide unrivalled equipment performance guarantees and field support and backup.
Due to the approval and execution of newly approved large projects and expansions, pressure is being experienced within WA’s construction labour workforce which has led to competition for specialist construction personnel and major growth in wages within this sector. The impact for Hastings has resulted in increased salary costs of approximately AU$42 million dollars from the historically reported DFS position.
Improvements to the mining schedule in bringing forward additional high-grade feed, higher consensus commodity prices arising from the rapid adoption of EV, and a lowering of the expected ramp-up period post construction have contributed to maintaining the NPV close to the DFS level.
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