Hastings Technology Metals has collaborated with Baotou Sky Rock Rare Earth New Material to improve the financial outlook for Stage 1 of its wholly owned Yangibana Rare Earths Project.
This move is expected to advance cash flows and achieve better pricing for the project’s rare earth concentrate.
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Since the Staged Development Study was unveiled in May last year, Hastings has been actively exploring options to improve the project’s economics.
The company has capitalised on its existing relationship with Baotou Sky Rock to negotiate a term sheet that promises a more lucrative toll treatment and offtake agreement for Yangibana’s rare earth concentrate.
A previous offtake contract with Baotou Sky Rock, signed in November 2018 for mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC), expired in November 2023.
The new integrated arrangement outlines a competitive fee structure for processing the concentrate into MREC and further into separated rare earth oxides.
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By GlobalDataManaged by Baotou Sky Rock, the toll treatment volumes will be processed by established Chinese groups, with the final product’s pricing tied to benchmark indices for individual oxides.
This partnership is set to significantly improve the Yangibana Project’s financial performance by increasing the payability of its concentrate.
The term sheet will be expanded into a sales contract following pre-production pilot test work, scheduled six months before the initial product delivery.
The agreement with Baotou Sky Rock complements Hastings’ existing offtake contract with thyssenkrupp Materials Trading, updated in September 2023 to include a substantial portion of Yangibana’s annual concentrate output.
Additionally, Hastings is in discussions to replicate this integrated arrangement for the remaining project volumes within the thyssenkrupp contract.
Beyond underpinning Stage 1 funding for the Yangibana Project, the new arrangement enables Hastings to refine its downstream processing strategy.
This includes a potential European-focused mine-to-magnet strategy, supported by an agreement with Solvay and a significant stake in Neo Performance Materials, which is constructing a rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in Estonia that is expected to come online next year.
Hastings CEO Paul Brown said: “In line with our strategy to maximise value from the Yangibana Project, we have continued to evaluate ways to both de-risk and optimise Stage 1 of the Yangibana Project.
“The integrated arrangement under the binding Term Sheet with Baotou Sky Rock will facilitate Hastings extracting greater value from our concentrate under a multi-stage toll treatment arrangement and combined with our optimised mine plan delivers a more attractive project.”
