Yangibana nears completion

The Western Australian project has finalised its airstrip, site access road and water supply infrastructure, and the team has completed 50 per cent of the Kurrbili Village.

In early June, Hastings announced that the project would progress on a staged development strategy in hopes that the strategy will reduce upfront capital requirements and project execution risks, as well as provide a faster cash flow pathway by the first quarter of 2025.

In the report, Hastings executive chairman Charles Lew said the June quarter saw significant momentum for Yangibana.

“The completion of the comprehensive project delivery and capital review has repositioned the project for a lower risk construction and commissioning phase through the staged development strategy,” Lew said.

“The market fundamentals for rare earth elements remain strong, driven by unprecedented growth in demand for clean energy technologies.

“Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges in delivering a rare earth project such as Yangibana, the project economics reaffirms the two-stage approach to implementation plan which has the benefits of enabling a faster pathway to early project cash flows.”

Hastings has entered into a non-binding heads of agreement with Neo Performance Materials for the commercial supply of Stage 1 rare earth concentrate.

The company has ended the quarter with $102 million in cash and equivalents.