- Hastings Technology Metals has awarded DRA Pacific a contract for its Rare Earths Processing Plant
- The company saw DRA as the obvious choice for the contract, after building a working relationship for over one year
- DRA will design and construct the processing plant which will ultimately produce a mixed rare earths carbonate needed to make magnets, wind turbines, high-tech products, and more
- Contract works have an estimated value of roughly $350 million
- Hastings’ shares have gone down 5.41 per cent, with shares trading at 17.5 cents each
Hastings Technology Metals has awarded DRA Pacific the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Management (EPCM) contract for the Yangibana Rare Earths Processing Plant.
In the past year, DRA Pacific has completed a series of engineering studies and the Front-End-Engineering-Design (FEED).
Hastings believes DRA Pacific was the logical choice for the EPCM contract after building a working relationship over the last 15 months.
“Their knowledge and experience in developing successful minerals processing projects make them the ideal candidate to manage the construction of our project,” Hastings Executive Chairman Charles Lew said.
“Awarding the execution of this internationally important rare earths project on the Australian Continent to DRA is a testament to DRA’s position as the preferred technical partner for projects of this nature,” DRA Global CEO Andrew Naude said.
DRA Global is known for its collaborative approach and experience in project development and delivery.
The awarded contract will cover all aspects of the design and construction of the processing facility and associated non-process infrastructure capable of producing 15,000 tonnes of Mixed Rare Earths Carbonate per year.
The Yangibana Project is located in the Upper Gascoyne region of Western Australia.
This processing plant will treat rare earth deposits, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into rare earth oxides.
These particular rare earth components are vital in making magnets, high-tech products, medical applications, wind turbines, and more.
The EPCM contract is the largest dollar value contract associated with Yangibana with works having an estimated value of A$350 million.
Awarding this contract puts the project into the development phase to progress to the production of Hastings’ mixed rare earth carbonate by 2022.
Hastings’ shares have gone down 5.41 per cent, with shares trading at 17.5 cents each as at 3:56 pm AEDT.