Lynas Rare Earths is set to appeal to the Malaysian Government today about unfavourable license conditions that threaten to interrupt its operations. But despite the impending battle, the company recorded strong results for the March quarter.

In terms of operations, the company called the results were “excellent”.

“Neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) production of 1,725 tonnes was the highest ever quarterly production at the Lynas Malaysia plant,” the company told the market.

“This was achieved despite a general shutdown of the Lynas Malaysia plant for over 3 days whilst tie-in works for the mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) receival facility were undertaken.

“The strong NdPr production result is the outcome of plant efficiency improvements and no significant downtime from external events.”

Lynas clocked in $237.1 million in quarterly sales revenue, up from $217.5 million in the previous quarter.

Closing cash and short term deposits counted over $1.1 billion.

The license conditions on the company’s Malaysian operations will prohibit the import and processing of lanthide, which will require the closure of the cracking and leaching component of the Lynas Malaysia plant.

Cracking and leaching leaves behind low-level radioactive waste, which the Malaysian Government seems no longer willing to tolerate.

Lynas has been racing to ramp up its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility to pick up the slack left by changes to its Malaysian operations.

“The Kalgoorlie… project has now entered the final phase of major construction activities and dry commissioning activities have commenced in certain parts of the plant,” the announcement said.

“We retain a target feed on date for the Kalgoorlie Facility in Q4 FY2023.”

When the expansion is complete, Lynas will undertake the cracking and leaching of rare earths in Kalgoorlie, before sending the intermediate product to Malaysia.

But the Kalgoorlie expansion won’t be on its feet until at least August, leaving a potential three-month void of rare earth supply.

Though the appeal will be heard today, there is no timeframe under Malaysian law by when the Minister is required to make a decision.

A 25-year-old man has lost his life in the early hours of Anzac Day at BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in SA.  

According to South Australian police, the incident occurred around 5:30am on Tuesday. While the details of the accident remained undisclosed, it is believed that the man may have been struck by a vehicle at the mine site.    

Major Crash police arrived at the site and began an investigation.  

A BHP spokesperson said the company was working with authorities to determine how the incident occurred.  

“We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of our workforce died this morning at our Olympic Dam site,” the spokesperson said.  

“The cause of death remains unclear. 

“Our thoughts are with the person’s family, friends and colleagues and we are offering all the support we can during this difficult time. 

“We are engaging with SafeWork South Australia and South Australia Police Service in relation to the incident.” 

Police are preparing a report for the coroner. 

Olympic Dam is a copper, uranium, silver and gold mine located roughly 560km north of Adelaide. It is one of the largest copper and uranium deposits in the world.  

Boss Energy’s Honeymoon uranium project is on track, with strong progress on all fronts.

The Honeymoon project is a uranium mine roughly 80km north-east of Broken Hill in South Australia. It ceased operation in 2013 due to low uranium prices and was bought by Boss Energy in 2015.

Approval for the revamping of Honeymoon was received in October 2022 and start-up is expected to occur in the December quarter of 2023.

Boss Energy hopes to produce 2.5 million pounds of uranium annually by 2026.

The company is fully funded through to production, with cash on hand of $103 million and a uranium stockpile with a value of $96 million.

Boss Energy also reported that $65 million, or 62 per cent, of budgeted expenditure has now been committed to the program.

The company also reported that all critical equipment components, including the essential ion exchange columns, are on track for delivery.

“All aspects of the construction are proceeding to plan, including delivery of critical equipment, wellfield development and the evaporation pond,” Boss Energy managing director Duncan Craib said.

“We are currently scheduled to be on track for first production as planned in the December quarter of this year.

“This timetable was designed to ensure we are in production at the start of the next forecast uranium bull market, not half-way through it.

“With the outlook for the uranium price continuing to strengthen amid growing use of nuclear power and a shift away from Russian uranium, we are perfectly positioned as we prepare to move into the final stages of construction ahead of commissioning.”

In January, Boss Energy appointed experienced mining professional James Davidson as the general manager of Honeymoon.

Davidson has previously held positions with Rio Tinto, Mt Gordon Copper and Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) at its Ranger uranium mine.

“James has immense experience across project management and construction, with a particular emphasis on uranium metallurgy and operations,” Craib said at the time.

“This knowledge will be invaluable as we advance development of Honeymoon and prepare for commissioning and steady-state production.”

The conditions of the license will prohibit the import and processing of lanthide which will require the closure of the cracking and leaching component of the Lynas Malaysia plant.

The appeal will be heard on April 28 by the Minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, 39 days before the conditions are set to come into effect.

But Lynas is concerned that the tight timeframe will cause a delay in its rare earths supply.

“There is no statutory time frame under the Atomic Energy Licence Act 1984 by when the Minister is required to make a decision on the appeals,” Lynas told the market.

“However, Lynas has requested that the appeals are addressed urgently.”

The company is further seeking a stay of the new license conditions until administrative and legal appeals have been resolved.

Lynas is racing to ramp up its Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility to pick up the slack left by changes to its Malaysian operations.

“Planning for feed-on and production ramp up continues with a focus by the Lynas Kalgoorlie operational team on learning from the significant expertise of the Lynas Malaysia team in all aspects of cracking and leaching operations,” the company said.

When the expansion is complete, Lynas will undertake the cracking and leaching of rare earths in Kalgoorlie, before sending the intermediate product to Malaysia.

But the Kalgoorlie expansion won’t be on its feet until at least August, leaving a potential three-month void of rare earth supply.

Cracking and leaching leaves behind low-level radioactive waste, which the Malaysian Government seems no longer willing to tolerate.

TOMRA Mining’s unique experience in the design and installation of large-scale ore sorting plants and its collaborative approach were the keys to the successful design of the world’s largest lithium sorting plant.

The installation has already started and is expected to reach completion in late 2023.

Pilbara Minerals owns the the world’s largest, independent hard-rock lithium mine. It is located in Western Australia and produces a spodumene and tantalite concentrate.

By pursuing a growth strategy to become a sustainable, low-cost lithium producer, the company has become a major player in the rapidly growing lithium supply chain. This investment will ensure the expansion of its large-scale operation in order to meet the increasing demand for lithium driven by sustainable energy technologies such as electric vehicles and energy storage.

“This new facility to be constructed at our Pilgangoora Project will be the world’s largest lithium mineral ore sorting plant,” Pilbara Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Dale Henderson said.

“TOMRA’s experience in large global sorting installations, innovative technology, and ability to provide local support were significant factors in our decision to work with them.

“From the start, the TOMRA team has been working side by side with us and our engineering partner DRA Global to deliver this important project.”

Processing contaminated ore: A key challenge for the lithium industry

As part of this expansion project, Pilbara Minerals turned to TOMRA Mining for assistance to address the key industry challenge in the processing of spodumene feed ore contaminated with barren host rock.

TOMRA has 50 years’ experience in sensor-based sorting technologies and has designed and built 90 per cent of the world’s large-scale mining sorting plants with a capacity above 300t/h.

These include plants such as the Ma’aden Umm Wu’al project, which is operating at 1850t/h, or the Lucara diamond operation which runs 15 sorters.

Specifically for the Pilbara Minerals project, TOMRA Mining offers effective ore sorting solutions with high sensor resolution and ejection accuracy that ensure high lithium recovery and waste removal with a stable and consistent performance at high capacity.

Valuable expertise and collaborative approach

The TOMRA Mining team conducted a geological assessment of sample ores supplied by Pilbara Minerals.

It revealed that the pegmatite deposit did have non-lithium bearing host rock intrusions. Some of these minerals have a high density like that of spodumene, which means that it is also concentrated when using Heavy Media Separation (HMS).

This reduces the efficiency of the downstream floatation and contaminates the final product. Sensor-based sorting technologies, on the other hand, can measure the colour, density, and mineralogical variations in individual particles, enabling the accurate detection and removal of this barren material.

Working closely with the Pilbara Minerals metallurgical team, TOMRA conducted extensive test work at the TOMRA Test Center in Sydney to check all the options and answer any questions arising during the tests.

The samples were run at capacity on production sorters and included repeatability and variation testing. The test work benchmarked the expected performance of the sorters and was used to establish the sort quality on each of the ore types that will be fed through the plant.

Primero Group, which was awarded the contract for construction of the project, has now started bulk earthworks for the sorting plant.

The TOMRA team was involved not only in the testing and supply of equipment, but also provided assistance with the plant layout and understanding of the implications of sorting on the upstream mining and downstream process of the ore.

This involvement throughout the development process will add to efficient operational ramp-up and technical optimisation.

Ongoing support with local team and global resources – de-risking adoption of a new technology

TOMRA’s capability to support the project with a dedicated Australian-based team and a global support structure has been a significant factor and is an important part of de-risking the installation of this new technology.

The team is working closely with Pilbara Minerals through the installation process, commissioning and start-up, and will continue to provide on-site support once the sorting plant is up and running.

29Metals’ Capricorn copper mine is still feeling the effects of unprecedented rainfall in Queensland, with the full reinstatement of the mine scheduled for 2024.

The company reported seven-metre flooding at the site in March following the extreme rainfall that struck the state.

The site suffered no significant harm to the processing plant, but supporting infrastructure was less fortunate with the company reporting some damage.

However, 29Metals has announced that there is still significant water on site, including approximately 500ml in the Esperanza South underground mine.

29Metals will undertake a phased approach to reinstate full mining capabilities at the site.

Initial reinstatement of operations, with a combination of ore mined from the Mammoth and Greenstone ore sources and stockpiles is planned to commence in the mid-September quarter of 2023.

Complete reinstatement, including the recommencement of mining at Esperanza South, will not be possible until the middle of the first quarter of 2024.

“Substantial effort has gone into ensuring that we properly understand the full impact of this unprecedented weather event and implement a responsible plan for the safe return to operations,” 29Metals managing director and chief executive officer Peter Albert said.

“With water levels on site now stabilised, the recovery task has become clearer. Water quality and reducing the additional water brought onto site by this event are the key enablers to recovery.

“I again want to acknowledge the efforts of the 29Metals team. The extraordinary work from our team on site to manage the impact during this extreme event – with no health or safety incidents, no uncontrolled releases of water from on-site water storage facilities and no loss of containment of tailings – is being matched by group-wide efforts to develop and evaluate recovery scenarios.”

The company is expected to finalise the recovery plan by mid-May and will update the market again once it has done so.

Core Lithium has boosted the mineral resource estimate at its Finniss lithium mine by 62 per cent.

Located just south of Darwin Port in the Northern Territory, Core completed drilling at its 100 per cent owned project in 2022.

The positive results of the drilling lead to the increased mineral resource estimate.

The 2022 drilling program was the largest that Core has completed to date and showed significant potential for extension of the Finniss project.

“This significant increase to the Finniss mineral resource is a fantastic outcome for Core and our shareholders,” Core Lithium chief executive officer Gareth Manderson said.

“The 2022 drilling campaign was the largest in Core’s history, and these outstanding results are a credit to the exploration team.

“Through the targeted and systematic drilling of known and emerging deposits, the company has further highlighted the prospectivity of our landholding in the Bynoe Pegmatite field and the strong potential for life of mine extensions at the Finniss lithium operation.

“Our exploration team returns to Finniss in 2023 with a pipeline of new and existing deposits. The success of the 2022 exploration program is a strong endorsement of our near-doubled 2023 exploration budget as we target growth at the Finniss lithium operation.”

Core prepared its first shipment of spodumene concentrate from Finniss ahead of schedule in early April of this year. The shipment made its way to China in the same week.

The first shipment was initially estimated to be ready by the end of April, but Core was ahead of schedule.

“I would like to commend the Core Lithium team for the work they have done to safely start operations and produce concentrate during this wet season,” Manderson said.

“Core’s focus is to now establish the foundations of sustained growth for the company, including the regular delivery of high-quality, reliable volumes of lithium concentrate that is currently in high demand.”