Arafura Resources has chosen the Northern Territory for a rare earths project producing key materials for the electric vehicle industry.
Two elements, neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr), are the main materials in ultra-strong permanent magnets – vital to the automotive, electric motor, electronics, and technology industries.
NdPr oxide is a major component for high-strength NdFeB permanent magnets used in EVs, wind turbines, portable electronic devices, and it also has many industrial applications.
Demand for rare earths is predicted to outstrip supply with a shortfall likely by 2020, InvestorIntel reports.
Arafura Resources is expected in the next few years to become a long-term, secure supplier of NdPr from its fully-owned Nolans project, which could supply up to 10% of the world’s demand for Nd and Pr when in full production by about 2020.
Arafura Resources says it has examined the feasibility of locating the plant for its Nolans project in either the Northern Territory or South Korea for a number of years.
The Northern Territory Government has been working with Arafura to secure the $80 million separation plant to be sited about 135km north of Alice Springs, with construction due to start around late 2019.
“Nolans will soon represent a new long-term, secure supply of high value rare earth products which are key to e-mobility and clean energy supply chains,” Arafura Resources managing director Gavin Lockyer says.
“At a proposed output of 3.600 t/y of neodymium/praseodymium oxide, this equates to an amount of material sufficient to produce approximately 2 million electric vehicles for over 30 years.”
