Comprehensive work programmes aimed at commercialising ASX-listed rare earths company Arafura Resources’ 100%-owned Nolans rare earths project, in Australia’s Northern Territory, have identified several improvements to the existing project structure that will deliver a more competitive and efficient project with greater capacity to withstand cyclical downturns in rare earth prices. These studies, targeting preferred phosphate-rich material types in the projects resource, would deliver an optimal plant feed and throughput that resulted in an adjustment to the planned yearly rare earths output to 14 000 t of total rare earth oxides over the more than 20-year operational life of the project.
