Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s private mining company, Wyloo, has entered into exclusive negotiations with Hastings Technology Metals to form an unincorporated joint venture (UJV) for the Yangibana rare earths and niobium project in Western Australia.
Wyloo is set to hold a 60% participating interest in the UJV and act as its manager and operator, with an option to increase its stake to 70%.
Hastings' wholly owned subsidiary, Yangibana Jubilee, will hold a 40% participating interest in the UJV.
The UJV encompasses both stage one of the Yangibana project and the stage two hydrometallurgical plant.
Wyloo and Hastings have agreed on a non-binding term sheet to negotiate a UJV agreement and other binding transaction documentation.
Wyloo has also acquired a 19.99% stake in Canadian speciality materials manufacturer Neo Performance Materials from Hastings.
The transaction was completed through the acquisition of 8,350,311 shares of Neo by Wyloo from Hastings at a value of A$79.8m ($50.7m) or C$8.63 ($6.08) per share in exchange for cancelling exchangeable notes of the same value.
The remaining exchangeable notes will be cancelled upon the formation of the UJV, and Hastings will settle the value of the remaining 623,816 shares (1.49%) it holds in Neo through a cash payment to Wyloo.
Wyloo intends to hold the Neo shares for investment purposes and may adjust its holdings depending on market conditions and in accordance with Neo's shareholder rights plan.
The company does not control any other shares in Neo and has no joint actors in respect of Neo or its securities.
Wyloo CEO Luca Giacovazzi said: “This is an exciting time to be a major partner in a multi-decade critical minerals project such as Yangibana.
“Yangibana is one of the most advanced rare earths projects in Australia and will become a globally significant source of NdPr [neodymium and praseodymium], a critical component in the manufacture of permanent magnets, as well as a producer of Niobium and other by-products critical to the energy transition.
“We are also pleased to acquire a 19.99% equity stake in Neo, a leading, global rare earths processing and advanced permanent magnets producer. We look forward to working more closely with both Hastings and Neo across the mine to magnet supply chain as we expand our critical minerals portfolio.”
The target date for finalising the UJV agreement is the end of March 2025, subject to regulatory approval.
