Arafura Resources signs initial agreement for rare earth processing in the U.S.

Texas Mineral Resources

22/12/2019 23:22

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Australian rare earths miner Arafura
Resources Ltd  ARU.AX  on Monday said it had signed a
preliminary agreement with a U.S. based company for the
treatment of a certain variety of its rare earth concentrate.
    Under the letter of intent, USA Rare Earth LLC's plant will
process Arafura's high purity mixed middle-heavy rare earths
carbonate product (SEG-HRE product) from its Nolans Bore
Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr) deposit in northern Australia.
    Arafura's products - which include high-purity NdPr and
SEG-HRE, both a type of rare earth mineral - are largely used by
magnet producers, also finding applications in the manufacture
of electric and hybrid vehicles and wind turbines.
    The company said USA Rare Earth and its joint venture
partner Texas Mineral Resources Corp  TMRC.PK  have submitted a
tender for the U.S. Department of Defense's request for
proposals to build a heavy rare earths separation plant in the
United States.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N28K21L
    Concerns that China, the world's largest rare earths
producer, could use its supplies as a bargaining chip in its
trade war with the United States has led to growing measures by
Washington to boost its domestic production capacity.
    In a separate statement, Pini Althaus, chief executive of
USA Rare Earth, said its collaboration with Arafura was "an
example of concrete steps demonstrating how the U.S. and
Australia can address the need for a reliable rare earth supply
chain independent of China".
    USA Rare Earth added that it and Arafura have agreed to
execute a definitive agreement in the first quarter of fiscal
2020.
    Arafura's shares rose as much as 4.6% to a near three-week
high against the benchmark .AXJO which traded 0.4% lower by 2315
GMT.

 (Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
 ((Soumyajit.Saha@thomsonreuters.com;))