Tag Archives: Rare earths

Wood Group receives Pensana Metals Longonjo rare earth PFS gig

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Following the recent mineral resource upgrade at the Longonjo NdPr project in Angola, Pensana Metals says it has appointed international engineering company Wood Group to execute a prefeasibility study (PFS) for expedited development of the asset.

The study will focus on the delivery of a low capital cost open-pit mining operation and exporting flotation concentrates to customers in China, via the recently upgraded Benguela rail line and the Atlantic deep‐water port of Lobito, Pensana said.

Discussions with potential financiers have commenced and it is expected that a financing package will be finalised to coincide with the completion of the PFS (scheduled for September 2019), according to the company.

Pensana said the company was of the view that, given the work that has been completed to date and the relative simplicity of the operation, it should be possible, after the PFS publication, to move immediately to a front-end engineering design contract and, then, secure an engineering procurement construction and management agreement.

Pensana Metals Chief Operating Officer, Dave Hammond, said: “The development concept is very straight forward. We are looking at a low capital cost, shallow open-pit and flotation operation producing a high-grade concentrate for export to China via the adjacent major rail and port infrastructure.

“Last month’s substantially increased mineral resource estimate has enabled us to bring forward the PFS.” This saw the company declare an inferred resource of 240 Mt at 1.60% rare earth oxides (REO), including 0.35% NdPr for 3.85 Mt of REO including 840,000 t of NdPr.

Wood Group previously undertook the scoping study for Longonjo and has an experienced rare earth mining and development team, according to Pensana.

Studies that will be part of the PFS include additional drilling, optimisation of the flotation process and comminution testwork, mining optimisation studies, a revised mineral resource estimate and detailed cost studies based on engineering design work.

DRA to start work on Yangibana rare earths FEED contract in Western Australia

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DRA Global is to carry out the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for Hastings Technology Metals’ Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia.

Yangibana will be Hastings’ first rare earths project on the Australian continent, containing substantial neodymium and praseodymium resources, according to DRA.

The project currently spans approximately 650 km² and is located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. A definitive feasibility study (DFS) in 2017, based on a 5.15 Mt reserve, detailed a production rate of 1 Mt/y to produce up to 15,000 t/y of mixed rare earths carbonate.

Following this, Hastings has undertaken to develop the project further, specifically the first phase of the processing plant. The site plot plan has been approved and is ready for detailed engineering and execution to proceed.

The flowsheet for this initial project will comprise of two key elements; beneficiation and hydrometallurgy. This FEED scope of work shall progress the process plant engineering design and place long lead equipment orders to obtain vendor data to progress engineering in critical areas.

“A further outcome of this scope of work will be to define the requirements for detailed design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Yangibana rare earths project processing facility,” DRA said.

The scope of work will also progress engineering and update the project cost estimate for the processing facility. This element of the project has been fast tracked by Hastings Technology, with the first phase expected to be completed by the end of December.

Hannes Zandberg, Project Director at Hastings Technology, said: “DRA brings decades of engineering experience to this project and has a globally proven track record. This has allowed us to set some tight deadlines and, although it is a challenge, our close working partnership with DRA inspires confidence. We are certain that this FEED phase will have a successful outcome and will lead to future collaboration on the Yangibana project.”

Rare earths Western Australia pilot project starts up

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Northern Minerals has become the first heavy rare earth producer outside of China after starting up a pilot plant at its Browns Range project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The official opening of the plant, attended by various Western Australia ministers, comes a year to the day since construction commenced.

Browns Range’s main products are dysprosium and terbium. The former is an “essential component in the success of the electric vehicle evolution”, according to Northern Minerals.

“As the only dysprosium producer outside China, Northern Minerals is well placed to become a significant, stable supplier of this important element,” the company said.

Both heavy rare earths are also used in wind turbines, industrial robots, air conditioning and many other new technologies in development.

Managing Director and CEO George Baulk said the company had been helped along the way by the federal government’s R&D Tax Incentive Scheme for “stimulating the emergence of new industries”.

The three-year pilot plant project will be used to assess the economic and technical feasibility of a full-scale development at Browns Range.

A total 172,080 tonnes of mineralised material at 1.19% total rare earth oxides (TREO), containing 2,047 t TREO, will be mined and stockpiled ready to be fed into the pilot plant. The plant will process 60,000 tonnes per year of this material through the beneficiation plant, and 3,200 t/y of xenotime concentrate at 20% TREO through the hydrometallurgical process.

The final product will contain 4.9 t of dysprosium in 590 t TREO within a mixed rare earth carbonate.

This is all a warm up for the full scale project, which will have a beneficiation plant able to process 585,000 t/y of ore and produce a high-grade mineral concentrate to feed into the hydrometallurgical plant. This process consists of a crushing and grinding circuit and combination of wet high gradient magnetic separation and flotation.

The overall beneficiation circuit delivers recoveries of 91% dysprosium and 87% TREO at a 20% TREO mineral concentrate grade.

The hydromet plant should produce 279 t of dysprosium contained with 3,127 t of TREO, in 6,000 t of mixed rare earth carbonate per year.