(Kitco News) -Australia's Hastings Technology Metals (ASX: HAS) announced Tuesday that it has successfully completed the first blast at its Yangibana rare earths project.
The company said that this first blast of construction waste material was required for the ongoing completion of its early infrastructure works packages, including construction of access roads, airstrip and village accommodation.
"This is an important milestone in the development of the early works infrastructure and allows advancement towards full scale process plant construction over the coming months," the company said in a statement.
Hastings added that Yangibana is expected to produce rare earth concentrates for more than 15 years and will contribute some 6-8% of the world's production of neodymium and praseodymium, the two most sought after rare earth elements.
Hastings anticipates that a large percentage of the A$658 million project spend will be awarded to companies based in Australia, with the majority going to companies based in Western Australia.
According to a press-release, as at the end of May 2022, contracts have been awarded for village earthworks and construction, communications and water supply infrastructure and other miscellaneous works.
Hastings Technology Metals is advancing its Yangibana rare earths project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant 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.
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Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others.
Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China.
