Tag Archives: Yangibana

GR Engineering cements Yangibana rare earth project EPC contract

GR Engineering Services has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Yangibana Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hastings Technology Metals Limited, for a beneficiation plant and associated infrastructure for the Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia.

As previously announced on May 3, 2023, GR Engineering had entered into a binding term sheet with Yangibana Pty Ltd for these works.

The contract sum, including the provisional sum, is A$210 million ($138 million) as previously disclosed. This is made up of a fixed price component of A$180 million for the beneficiation plant and a provisional component of A$30 million mainly for the plant and tailings storage facility earthwork.

GR Engineering has commenced early works up to an agreed capped amount. The EPC contract is conditional on GR Engineering being issued with a commencement notice, which is dependent on Hastings finalising funding for the project as well as a number of other pre-conditions standard for an EPC contract.

Construction is planned to be complete in the March quarter of 2025 with first concentrate on truck in the June quarter of 2025

Under the A$210 million contract, GRES will design and construct the Yangibana beneficiation plant and all associated infrastructure, including engineering, manufacture, supply, installation, dry and wet commissioning, and testing of the facility over a period of less than 18 months. When completed, the plant will have a feed capacity of 1. 1 Mt/y and a rare earth concentrate output capacity of 37,000 t/y, Hastings says.

GR Engineering books A$210 million EPC beneficiation plant order for Yangibana rare earths project

GR Engineering Services says it has entered into a binding term sheet with Yangibana Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hastings Technology Metals Limited, for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the beneficiation plant and associated infrastructure for the Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia.

The project is approximately 250 km north east of Carnarvon.

Hastings said the plant will have a feed capacity of 1 Mt/y and a rare earth concentrate output capacity of 35,000 t/y of rare earth mineral concentrate at a grade of 27% total rare earth oxides.

GR Engineering and Hastings have agreed the material terms of the EPC contract in the binding term sheet. The EPC contract for the works will be finalised shortly and GR Engineering will commence early works. If the EPC contract is entered into, it is expected that the contract sum, including provisional sum, will be A$210 million ($140 million).

Tony Patrizi, Managing Director of GR Engineering, said: “GR Engineering is pleased to have received the binding term sheet for this world-class rare earths project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. It will be exciting to work on this project as it is focused on globally critical minerals that are used as key components for electric vehicles and wind turbines.”

Hastings, TOMRA see potential for XRT ore sorting at Yangibana rare earths project

TOMRA’s X-ray Transmission (XRT) ore sorting innovation has another positive industry reference to hand after Hastings Technology Metals said off-the-shelf technology had proven extremely effective at removing dilution on samples used in the testing program at its Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia.

Testing on a 1.8 t sorted bulk sample had seen a 95.1% recovery of contained Nd2O3+Pr6O11 (neodymium and praseodymium), a 52% increase in head grade from 0.71% to 1.08% Nd2O3+Pr6O11, and a 37.1% mass rejection, Hastings said.

This shows XRT technology could be applied to separate out a barren waste stream from the ore, according to the ASX-listed company, presenting an opportunity to remove waste dilution material from the mining process before the material is fed into the processing plant – resulting in energy and reagent savings in the beneficiation circuit.

The testing involved the crushed bulk ore sample of 1.8 t being screened into two size fractions (10.5 mm) and (plus-10.5mm), with the sortable fraction (plus-10.5 mm)after being diluted with waste material at either 35% or 60% proportions screened on a TOMRA commercial sorter using XRT technology at 32 t/h feed rate.

In the base case, sorted ore samples, crushed and screened to plus-10.5 mm and diluted with 35% waste material, a total of 37.1% of the sample mass was rejected at a grade of 0.09%Nd2O3+Pr6O11, representing a loss of Nd2O3+Pr6O11 of just 4.9%, or an overall recovery of 95.1%Nd2O3+Pr6O11 in the ore. A corresponding 52% increase or upgrade in the ore head grade was achieved from 0.71% to 1.08% Nd2O3+Pr6O11.

In the sorted sample diluted with 60% waste material, the ore sorting test work program achieved an upgrade factor of 2.16 taking the feed grade from 0.43% Nd2O3+Pr6O11 to 0.93%Nd2O3+Pr6O11, while recovering 90.6% of the Nd2O3+Pr6O11, the company said.

Hasting said: “The full opportunity for including ore sorting technology into the Yangibana process flowsheet is still being assessed. Based on these test work results, technical and engineering programs will continue to investigate the benefits that can be realised across the project.”

The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant at Yangibana will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas, according to Hastings.

A definitive feasibility study 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 at Yangibana.

DRA graduates from FEED to plant EPCM at Yangibana rare earths project

DRA Global’s Pacific division has been rewarded for previous work on Hastings Technology Metals’ Yangibana rare earths project, in Western Australia, with the company now receiving the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contract for the project’s processing plant.

The EPCM contract, the single largest dollar value contract associated with the project, will cover all aspects of the design and construction of the processing facility and associated non-process infrastructure capable of producing 15,000 t/y of mixed rare earths carbonate (MREC), Hastings said.

The appointment followed a series of value engineering studies and the front end engineering design (FEED) completed by DRA Pacific during 2018 and 2019. Works directed under the EPCM contract have an estimated value of around A$350 million ($241 million).

The key component of the contract terms is the comprehensive performance guarantee linked to ore throughput for the entire process flowsheet at Yangibana, in Western Australia, according to Hastings.

“The appointment of DRA Pacific as the EPCM contractor for Hastings represents another critical milestone for the project, reinforcing that Yangibana is execution ready,” Hastings said.

“Choosing DRA Pacific was the logical choice given the already close working relationship built up over the last 15 months, and the experience in rare earths processing plant design that DRA Pacific bring to the table.”

Charles Lew, Hastings Executive Chairman, said DRA’s knowledge and experience in developing successful minerals processing projects made them the “ideal candidate” to manage the construction of the project.

He added: “The award of the EPCM contract moves the Yangibana rare earths project firmly into development phase to commence project execution and progress to production of our mixed rare earth carbonate by 2022.”

Andrew Naude, Chief Executive Officer of DRA Global, said: “Awarding the execution of this internationally important rare earths project on the Australian Continent to DRA is testament to DRA’s position as the preferred technical partner for projects of this nature.

“We have put together a very strong team for the delivery of the project and our Project Manager has significant experience in delivering successful projects.”

The EPCM contract is a fundamental requirement of Hastings’ debt providers and hence is pivotal to the project financing process, Hastings said. A definitive feasibility study 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.

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

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.”