Australia has moved one rare-earths project from a reserve commitment to a construction site. Work has started at Arafura Rare Earths’ Nolans project, 135 kilometres north of Alice Springs, after the company took a final investment decision in May.
Resources minister Madeleine King said the federal government has backed the mine and processing plant with $1.2 billion, drawn through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the Critical Minerals Facility, the National Reconstruction Fund and the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. Canberra has also made a non-binding commitment to take 500 tonnes of rare earths from the project through that reserve. Export credit agencies from the United States, Canada, South Korea and Germany are in the financing alongside Australian public money.
The jobs are in processing
The project is expected to employ about 600 people during construction and about 350 once it is operating. For equipment and chemical suppliers, the order book is a processing plant, not another pit: ore is meant to leave the site as separated oxides. That is the part of the critical-minerals trade Australia has said it wants to keep onshore, and it is the part that still has to be built.
