Northern Minerals is now the first producer of heavy rare earths outside China with the official opening of its Browns Range project, Western Australia.
“The opening of the Browns Range heavy rare earths project is nearly eight years in the making, since the initial discovery in 2010,” managing director George Bauk says.
“Australia is now a heavy rare earths producer.”
Northern Minerals’ 60,000-tonne-per-annum Browns Range project in the East Kimberley region will produce mainly dysprosium and terbium. Dysprosium is an additive used in the permanent magnets required for the motors in electric vehicles, Stockhead reports.
Both are considered critical metals because of supply constraints and their importance in the development of clean energy technologies.
Each EV contains about 100 grams of dysprosium, and EV demand is expected to exceed 20 million vehicles annually by 2025.
Dysprosium and terbium are also used in wind turbines, industrial robots, air conditioning and many other new technologies.
Browns Range is in the pilot plant stage, which will allow Northern Minerals to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed larger scale project.
Northern Minerals expects to start shipping dysprosium in the September quarter.
