Sydney Mining Club Lunchtime Forum - A Rare Earth Revolution on the East Coast
At 12.15pm on the 1st of August at The Ivy, the Sydney Mining Club will host the Managing Director and CEO of Australian Strategic Materials Rowena Smith; and the Executive Director and CEO of VHM Limited Ron Douglas present to looming Rare Earths Projects.
Australian Strategic Materials (ASX: ASM)
Rowena Smith
Managing Director & CEO
ASM is now developing its 75Mt Toongi polymetallic resource near Dubbo. This resource contains light and heavy rare earths, zirconium, niobium and hafnium at 1.89% ZrO2, 0.04% HfO2, 0.44% Nb2O5, 0.03% Ta2O5, 0.14% Y2O3 and 0.74% TREO.
The Project is construction ready, with all major permits approved Reserves to support an initial project life of 20 years, with potential for a significantly longer mine life.
In time, ASM will refine its materials produced at the Dubbo site and initially at its plant currently under construction in Ochang, South Korea. Funded by a consortium the arrangement includes provision for a ten-year offtake agreement for up to 2,800tpa of NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) alloy from ASM’s Korean Metals Plant (KMP), a material essential to high-flux magnets essential to the manufacture of EVs.
VHM Limited (ASX: VHM)
Ron Douglas
Executive Director & CEO
VHM Limited is developing its Goschen Rare Earths and Mineral Sands Project in north-western Victoria and will produce monazite for Rare Earths, zircon and titanium minerals.
The 820MT resource has a total heavy mineral percentage of 2.95% and an assemblage of 21.2% zircon, 11% rutile, 12.1% leucoxene, 3.5% monazite and 0.7% xenotime.
All up, VHM has a rare earth deposit of 413,107 tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO).
VHM’s updated definitive feasibility study outlines a mining and treatment operation of 5.0 Mtpa. The Victorian Minister for Planning is currently assessing VHM’s proposal for a mining licence over its Goschen Project. A final decision is expected in the coming months and will carry implications for mine operators across Victoria.
