The work plan for the construction and operation of Astron Corporation’s Donald rare earths and mineral sands project has been approved by the Victorian Government.
The work plan outlines the nature and scale of the proposed mining and processing activities at Donald, identifying and assessing environmental and community risks.
It also includes a risk management plan to eliminate or minimise the recognised risks and monitor performance against defined criteria.
The State Government approving the work plan paves the way for construction and operation of Phase 1 at Donald to begin.
“The work plan approval represents the final major regulatory approval for the Donald Project to proceed,” Astron managing director Tiger Brown said.
“It enables the finalisation of critical activities, including arrangements for debt and equity financing, before a capital development submission is made to the Astron board and the board of the Donald project joint venture.”
Donald involves farm-in, joint venture, and offtake agreements that will see Energy Fuels become a 49 per cent owner in the project.
To earn the stake, US uranium miner Energy Fuels will inject $183 million in funding for the execution and construction of Phase 1 at Donald.
“The work plan approval for the Donald project is significant as it moves us one step closer to creating an important link between the United States and Australia on rare earths and critical minerals,” Energy Fuels president and chief executive officer Mark Chalmers said.
“We believe the Donald project is exceptional, as it contains large quantities of the ‘light’, ‘mid’ and ‘heavy’ rare earth oxides needed for a variety of commercial, clean energy and defence technologies.
“Energy Fuels plans to import the rare earth minerals from the Donald project into the US, where we will process them into separated oxides at our mill in Utah for domestic and other customers.”
Astron is targeting a final investment decision for Donald in 2025, subject to securing project financing arrangements satisfactory to the joint venturers.
In the meantime, the company will progress development activities such as securing non-binding heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) offtake arrangements for approximately 70 per cent of Phase 1 HMC production, finalising the processing plant design and contract details for the engineering, procurement and construction contract, and completing pre-production drilling for mine planning.
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