Yangibana Rare Earths Project, Australia

The Yangibana rare earths project is an open-pit development in Western Australia (WA).

The project is being advanced through the unincorporated Yangibana joint venture, owned by Wyloo Gascoyne (60%) and Hastings Technology Metals (40%).

A scoping study for the project was completed in November 2015, followed by a definitive feasibility study (DFS) in November 2017. The final investment decision for the project was taken in March 2019 after the revision of the initial report.

An updated DFS focusing on the project’s initial developmental stage was announced in July 2026.

The updated DFS highlighted a staged development, with stage one comprising conventional open-pit mining and a mineral beneficiation plant, and stage two comprising a hydrometallurgical plant to refine concentrate into mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC).

The project is estimated to have an initial life of mine (LoM) of 19 years for an estimated investment of approximately $231.6m (A$333.4m).

Yangibana rare earths project location

The Yangibana rare earths project is located 386km by road north-east of the regional town of Carnarvon on Wanna Station in the Upper Gascoyne of WA. The area includes Thiin-Mah, Warriyangka, Tharrkari and Jiwarli country.

The project is covered by 13 granted mining leases, along with 22 miscellaneous licences and 16 general purpose leases, which collectively encompass the proposed mine and essential infrastructure.

Geology and mineralisation

The Yangibana deposit sits within the Gifford Creek Ferrocarbonatite Complex, an intrusion dated to roughly 1.3 billion years ago in the Gascoyne Province of the Capricorn Orogen.

The surrounding geology comprises Archaean to Proterozoic sequences, with nearby granitic bodies, most notably the Pimbyana and Yangibana Granites, hosting rare earth oxide (REO) mineralisation.

This mineralisation occurs in ferrocarbonatite sills, dykes and veins, as well as within ironstone and associated fenite alteration zones.

The project will involve the development of the Bald Hill South, Fraser’s and Yangibana West/North deposits.

Yangibana rare earths project reserves

The proven and probable (2P) mineral reserves at Yangibana rare earths project are estimated at 20.93 million tonnes (mt) grading 0.90% total rare earth oxide (TREO).

Mining methods

Mining at the Yangibana rare earths project will be carried out as a conventional open-pit operation under an owner-operator model.

The project will involve six open pits across six deposits that will operate for 16 years, after which mining will stop, and low-grade stockpiles will be reclaimed to supply mill feed for a further three years.

The open pit operation will include a three-month pre-production phase beginning at Bald Hill. This period will cover pre-strip work and establish sufficient run-of-mine stockpiles ahead of process plant commissioning.

Ore will be supplied from the Bald Hill and Yangibana NW open pits for the first five years, as these deposits will deliver the lowest strip ratio due to the dip and orientation of the resource. The strip ratio will average 4.9:1 over the first five years and will rise to 9.9:1 over the LoM.

Mining will start at the Fraser’s deposit in the fifth year, with ore then coming from three deposits. The Yangibana NW pit will be completed after around 7.5 years, while Bald Hill will finish after 11 years. During this period, the Simon’s Find and Yangibana pits will also commence to sustain production. Fraser’s will be depleted by the end of year 13, with output thereafter being supported by the Auer pits.

After 15 years, mining will ramp down over an 11-month period. Process plant feed will then be supplemented by low-grade stockpiles, with low-grade material peaking at nearly 3.8mt in year 15. Feed to the process plant will end after 19 years.

The primary fleet will be sized to meet the monthly mine schedule and will include 120t-class excavators, nominal 100t haul trucks, loaders and double road trains, as well as drill rigs and ancillary equipment.

The excavator fleet will increase from one unit at start-up to a peak of four units later in the mine life, while the haul truck fleet will comprise four trucks for the first five years and then rise to 16 trucks as material movement and the strip ratio increase. Blasting drill rigs will peak at six rigs, based on revised utilisation assumptions.

Ore processing

The crushing circuit will comprise a two-stage closed-circuit plant. It is designed to operate at 70% utilisation at a treatment rate of 196 tonnes per hour. The second-stage crusher will be capable of being bypassed when the ore sorters are not required.

The ore sorting plant incorporates two separate units: a fine sorter and a coarse sorter. Material from both ore sorters will be accepted, with fines collected on a single conveyor feeding the crushed ore bin. The bin will provide a 12-hour live capacity of crushed ore.

The grinding circuit will comprise a single-stage 3.2MW semi-autogenous grinding mill operating in closed circuit. The milling and classification circuit will reduce the crusher feed to a product size of 80% passing 90µm for the downstream rougher flotation circuit.

The flotation circuit will consist of a bulk rougher stage followed by four stages of cleaning. Rougher concentrate will pass through a regrind stage before entering the cleaner flotation circuit to help liberate coarse composite particles and improve the final REO concentrate grade.

The circuit will concentrate the ore by approximately 25 times to produce an REO concentrate comprising predominantly monazite with a TREO grade of 27% weight-by-weight. The rougher flotation concentrate will account for around 19% of the plant feed by mass, while the remaining 81% will report to rougher tailings.

The final REO concentrate will undergo thickening, filtration and drying before being packed into two‑tonne bulk bags and transported to the Port of Fremantle for export shipment.

Rougher tailings will be combined with the cleaner tailings and sent to a single thickener for solid-liquid separation, then pumped to the tailings storage facility.

Project infrastructure

The preferred access route to the project site starts from Carnarvon, using the sealed Carnarvon-Mullewa Road to Gascoyne Junction. From there, access continues north on the unsealed Ullawarra Road before heading north-east via the unsealed Edmund-Gifford Creek Road. The site access road joins from this route and runs north, crossing the Lyons River and its tributaries.

A hybrid power station, combining thermal generation using diesel/liquefied natural gas with daytime support from a solar farm and a battery energy storage system (BESS) will deliver power to the project. The configuration includes 8 x 1.5MW reciprocating gas-fired containerised engines in an n+1 arrangement; 2 x 1MW essential diesel backup engines for black start and contingency; and 12.4MW-peak direct current coupled solar photovoltaic with a 30MW-hour BESS.

Raw process water is supplied from the Siphon borefield, located approximately 15km from the plant.

Construction of the 294-room village and related facilities was completed in 2023. In August 2024, the village was placed into care and maintenance, with much of the facility shut down. Operations were limited to two rows of accommodation blocks along with the kitchen, dry mess, gym, administration buildings, wastewater treatment plant and reverse osmosis plants.

Offtake agreements

In June 2023, Hastings and Neo Performance Materials (Neo) signed a non-binding head of agreement (HoA) for the supply of up to 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of concentrate from stage one and an additional 10,000tpa of mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) upon completion of stage two.

Hastings entered a binding term sheet with Baotou Sky Rock in February 2024 for an integrated tolling and offtake arrangement for a minimum of 10,000tpa of concentrates from stage one.

In October 2025, a HoA was signed with Ucore Rare Metals to advance a potential long-term offtake of up to 37,000tpa of rare earth concentrate. Also included in the agreement, the parties will jointly complete a gap analysis and techno-economic assessment of a new Hydromet facility in the US to convert concentrate into MREC.

Contractors involved

The front-end engineering design (FEED) contract was awarded to DRA Pacific, while Mount Magnet Drilling was contracted to perform the reverse circulation and diamond drilling activities during the pre-feasibility study (PFS) stage.

The scoping study for the project was compiled by Snowden Mining, with inputs from the consultants who are involved in compiling the PFS.

The consultants involved in compiling the PFS are Tetra Tech Proteus as the lead consultant, Snowden Mining for the mining studies and resource review studies, and Core Process Engineering for the process design, hydrometallurgical and separation test work.

ATC Williams is also involved in conducting the water management, waste rock and tailings studies; Ecoscape is conducting the environmental approvals and permitting studies; Radiation Professionals is conducting the radiation management studies; and Austwide Mining is conducting the heritage protection and native title studies.

Wave International was appointed to assess the PFS, complete the DFS and assist the integrated management team after the DFS, including early FEED engineering work.

Whittens was contracted to carry out the bulk earthworks for the access roads and airstrip, as well as to provide heavy plant and equipment during road construction and associated early earthworks activities.

In June 2022, the Environmental Group, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Total Air Pollution Control, secured a contract for the supply of an emission control system for the refinery being constructed for the project in Onslow.

In August 2023, GR Engineering Services was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the beneficiation plant and associated infrastructure for the project.

DRA Pacific was awarded the engineering, procurement and contract management contract for the processing plant.

Aggreko was chosen as the preferred bidder under a build, own, operate contracting model for developing the hybrid power station.