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Mining company Lynas Rare Earths has inaugurated its A$800m ($525m) Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility in Western Australia. The opening ceremony was attended by Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King, alongside Lynas Rare Earths board chair John Humphrey and managing director and CEO Amanda Lacaze. 

Lacaze said: “This was an ambitious project, which established downstream rare earths processing in Australia for the first time.” 

The Kalgoorlie facility plays a central role in Lynas' growth strategy for 2025, which was initially revealed in May 2019. 

The company noted that the project was completed in less than two and a half years following the receipt of full construction approvals. 

The facility has been designed to process the rare earth concentrate from the Mt Weld mine. It is also capable of accepting third-party feedstock from other projects when they start operations. 

The rare earths concentrate moves via a cracking and leaching process to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that can be processed additionally into separated rare earth materials at facilities near Lynas’ customers.

Bauxite producer Metro Mining has finalised multi-cargo offtake agreements, ensuring a steady flow of bauxite shipments from its Bauxite Hills mine in Queensland, Australia, for 2025 and 2026. 

These agreements, along with existing contracts, escalate contracted offtake to 6.9 million wet metric tonnes for 2025 and 6.1 million for 2026.

The company's contract portfolio expansion includes an extension with its most long-standing client, Xinfa Aluminium Group, China's integrated aluminium company.

New contracts have been established with China Aluminium International Trading Group, the trading division of the alumina and aluminium producer Aluminium Corporation of China, and with Shandong Lubei Enterprise Group General Company, a chemical manufacturing group. 

While the detailed terms of the contract, including tenor, volume and pricing, remain confidential, it is disclosed that the offtake agreements are based on a shorter-term pricing quotation period, accounting for 80% in 2025 and 93% in 2026.

Rio Tinto has completed the acquisition of Sumitomo Chemical Company's (SCC) 20.64% interest in New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS), making it the sole owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in New Zealand. The transaction was first announced in May this year. 

In addition to the NZAS stake, Rio Tinto has also finalised the acquisition of SCC's 2.46% interest in Boyne Smelters (BSL).

Coupled with the recent purchase of Mitsubishi's 11.65% stake in BSL, Rio Tinto's share in BSL has increased to 73.5%. The financial details of the acquisitions were not disclosed. 

With NZAS now wholly under Rio Tinto's umbrella, the company is poised to optimise operations and leverage the full potential of the smelter. 

The acquisition, “along with recently signed electricity arrangements to secure the future of the Tiwai Point smelter, reinforces our long-term commitment to New Zealand,” said Armando Torres, managing director of Rio Tinto Aluminium Pacific Operations.

Underground mining contractor Westfill has secured a two-year contract for development and production activities at Vault Minerals’ Rothsay mine in Western Australia (WA). 

The Rothsay mine is in the Warriedar Greenstone gold belt of the Yalgoo Goldfield, approximately 300km north-east of Perth. 

Westfill’s responsibilities will include extracting mineralised ore from narrow sub-vertical structures. The company began its on-site operations in mid-September.

The Rothsay mine is part of the Deflector operations, which recently reported a record quarterly mill throughput in September, producing more than 30,000oz of gold and 188 tonnes (t) of copper.

Westfill managing director Ashley Morcombe said: “We are very excited to take on our first full principal mining services contract with Red5 (now Vault Minerals after the merger with Silverlake Resources), who are a valued client of Westfill’s."

Australian mining companies Emmerson Resources, CuFe and Tennant Minerals have formed a strategic alliance to jointly develop copper, gold and critical metals projects in the Tennant Creek region of the Northern Territory. 

The collaboration aims to overcome the economic challenges of independent development by pooling resources, which could lead to more substantial and financially viable projects. 

The combined mineral resources of the alliance amount to 7.3 million tonnes (t) at 0.6g per tonne of gold and 1.7% copper, which is approximately 145,000oz of gold and 127,000t of copper. 

Recent discoveries such as Tennant Mineral's Bluebird project, have shown high-grade intersections, including up to 61.8m at 2.3% copper and 0.4g per tonne of gold. Emmerson's Jasper Hills and Hermitage prospects have also yielded significant results. 

The alliance plans to adopt a hub-and-spoke development and operational model, reminiscent of the historical Tennant Creek Mineral Field, with centralised processing facilities for the proposed shared facility.