Blackboxstocks has announced that REalloys, its prospective merger target, has signed a series of non-binding agreements for ten years with AltynGroup Kazakhstan to establish a strategic partnership.

The objective of the partnership is to secure rare earth feedstock from Kazakhstan’s reserves for REalloys’ facilities in North America.

This move aims to incorporate rare earth deposits from Kazakhstan into Western supply chains.

AltynGroup has been instrumental in the development of Kazakhstan’s mining and metallurgical sectors, aligning with national efforts to expand the industrial base.

With its extensive network, the company plays a key role in the modernisation of the country's resource economy.

The partnership will see REalloys and AltynGroup collaborate to identify and develop rare earth-bearing mines in Kazakhstan.

These resources will be processed, refined and incorporated into REalloys’ North American platform.

Discussions over the past six months have led to the identification of several key properties across Kazakhstan for this purpose.

A key aspect of the agreement involves securing initial offtake from AltynGroup’s Kokbulak project, which spans 127,000km² in the Karaganda and Kostanay regions.

This site contains more than 350 million tonnes (mt) of iron ore reserves, offering by-product concentrates rich in both light and heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) like terbium and dysprosium from iron tailings.

Additional HREE offtakes from Kazakhstani feedstock are expected over the next year.

To accommodate this new feedstock, AltynGroup has made a non-binding commitment to invest in scaling REalloys’ US operations.

This investment will help enhance REalloys' capabilities, which include the sole rare earth metallisation facility in the US serving various governmental departments.

REalloys CEO Leonard Sternheim said: “Kazakhstan has some of the largest rare earth deposits in the world, and positioned between Russia and China, strategic alignment is a priority for the US.

“We look forward to working with AltynGroup to bring Kazakhstan’s abundance of rare earth feedstock into REalloys’ North-American midstream and downstream platform.”