Our Vision is to be the pre-eminent supplier of rare earths to the world by:

         -  developing the Nolans rare earths-phosphate-uranium project; and.
         -  pursuing long-term growth opportunities through exploration success and strategic partnerships.

Our Mission is to relentlessly pursue growth in shareholder value in a sustainable way.

Operations

Arafura Resources will, in the next few years, become a long-term supplier of rare earth oxides, phosphoric acid, uranium oxide and gypsum from its 100%-owned Nolans Project.

The Nolans Project comprises operations at two sites within Australia:

         -  the Nolans Bore Mine in the Northern Territory; and
         -  the Whyalla Rare Earths Complex in South Australia. 

The project is underpinned by a world-class rare earths deposit which has sufficient resources to support mining and chemical processing operations for at least 20 years. Annual production of 20,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides from the Whyalla Rare Earths Complex, equivalent to about 10% of the world’s supply, is on schedule to commence in 2013.

Rare earths provide environmentally friendly solutions through an array of applications aimed at achieving energy efficiency, and in developing green technologies. They are also in increasing demand worldwide for use in devices that are central to our modern lifestyle.

Arafura’s Nolans Project is a long-term resource development, with the Whyalla complex representing a very substantial value-add component. The production of rare earths from Nolans is an exciting new and important industry for Australia.

A bankable feasibility study is now in full swing, with comprehensive work streams progressing at both the Nolans Bore Mine and Whyalla Rare Earths Complex sites.

Geology

The Nolans Bore deposit is located at the southern end of the Reynolds Range in the central Aileron Province of the Arunta Region. The Aileron Province comprises greenschist to granulite facies metamorphic rocks with protolith ages in the range 1865-1710 Ma.

Supracrustal rocks in the Reynolds Range are divided into two broad units: the Lander Rock Beds (LRB) and the Reynolds Range Group. The LRB comprise (meta)turbiditic rocks that range in metamorphic grade from greenschist to granulite. In the Nolans region, the LRB include schist, phyllite, andalusite hornfels, garnet-cordierite-biotite-quartz granofels, sillimanite-biotite-cordierite-orthoclase granofels, tourmaline metaquartzite, and tourmaline-quartz pods.

Granite intrusion occurred in the Reynolds Range area between 1810 and 1790 Ma. Granitic rocks which intrude the LRB in the vicinity of Nolans are a southern extension of the Mount Boothby Orthogneiss (MBO). The supracrustal rocks and granites were overprinted by high grade metamorphism to amphibolite and granulite facies during 1590-1560 Ma.

Nolans Bore is a geologically unique deposit, which has world-class characteristics in size and grade of rare earth elements (REE), phosphate, uranium and thorium.

Apatite-hosted REE-P-U(-Th-F) mineralisation at Nolans Bore is distributed over an area of approximately 150 hectares within a kilometre radius of the bore. Primary mineralisation occurs predominantly in a series of sub-parallel tabular zones of massive fluorapatite (Ca₅(PO₄)₃(F,OH)), or as a stockwork of fluorapatite ± allanite ± carbonate veins and associated calcsilicate alteration. The massive zones dip steeply (65°-90°) to the NNW, are up to about 75 metres thick, and extend laterally and at depth over tens to several hundreds of metres. They are hosted primarily by gneissic granite assigned to the MBO, and also by the LRB and pegmatites.

The bulk (65-70%) of the REE-U content in the fluorapatite rock is hosted by minor amounts (up to 7-8%) of the phosphate-deficient REE mineral cheralite ([LREE, Ca][P, Si]O4). Only about 30-35% of the REE-U is hosted in the crystal lattice of the fluorapatite. The image below is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) photograph showing crackle/mosaic brecciation of fluorapatite with cheralite infill. Other identified REE-U-Th mineral species identified include bastnaesite, monazite, thorite and allanite.

Resource

The Nolans resource is currently at 30.3 million tonnes of measured, indicated and inferred resources, containing:

          - 850,000 tonnes of REO (grading 2.8% REO);
          - 3.9 million tonnes of phosphate pentoxide (grading 12.9% P2O5); and
          - 13.3 million pounds of uranium (grading 0.44 lb/t U3O8).

As at November 2008, total identified resources for Nolans Bore were as follows:

REO Distribution

Compared with many other deposits around the world, Nolans Bore has a higher proportion of rare earths that feed key growth markets in magnets and phsophors (i.e. neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and europium).

Mining

The Nolans Bore Mine is located wholly within a 14 square kilometre mining lease.

The resource is exposed at surface and, as currently defined, sits within an area measuring 2 kilometres by 2 kilometres. It will be a relatively small open pit operation, mining to a depth of about 150 metres.

The rock will be blasted and removed using excavators and haul trucks.  About 6 million tonnes of material will be mined each year over the life of the mine. Around 15-20% of this material, or 1 million tonnes per year, will be fed to an on-site beneficiation plant for upgrading to a mineral concentrate. The remaining material will be placed in overburden rock storage areas.

Government approval for the Nolans Bore Mine development is contingent on a detailed environmental approvals process, which includes extensive community engagement and comprehensive social impact and environmental studies.

Beneficiation

The beneficiation process, comprising crushing, screening, gravity separation and flotation to remove impurities, will generate about 700,000 tonnes of mineral concentrate each year.  This mineral concentrate will go through a grinding process, then be dried ready for transport to Arafura’s Rare Earths Complex at Whyalla in South Australia.

This treatment process removes about 300,000 tonnes a year as waste material (tailings), which will remain at the mine permanently in specially designed tailings storage facilities.

All waste materials, including overburden and tailings, will be stored according to accepted engineering and environmental principles. This will ensure that erosion is minimised and natural water courses remain free flowing and are not adversely impacted.

Some mine overburden rock may be used as road base or to construct the tailings storage facilities.  Wherever possible, water will be recycled to the beneficiation plant and also used for dust suppression at the mine.

Chemical Treatment

Arafura will process mineral concentrate from the Nolans Bore Mine at its Rare Earths Complex on the northern outskirts of Whyalla, about 400 kilometres north-west of Adelaide, on the western shores of Spencer Gulf. 

Whyalla emerged as the preferred location for the Rare Earths Complex after an exhaustive Australia-wide site selection process. Factors in support of Whyalla include access to key infrastructure such as a good road, rail and port facilities, access to a skilled workforce, proximity to seawater for a desalination plant, and the support of the South Australian Government for the project.

The Whyalla Rare Earths Complex will comprise a series of chemical plants and a processing plant where chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid will leach out the rare earths, phosphate and uranium, for ultimate recovery and sale.

About 700,000 tonnes of mineral concentrate, rich in rare earths and phosphate minerals, will arrive each year at the Whyalla Complex by rail from the Nolans Bore Mine. Separation of the mineral concentrate into two main processing streams – one for rare earths, and one for phosphate – will be through a patented pre-leach process based on hydrochloric acid.

Further treatment of each processing stream will recover rare earths, phosphate, gypsum and uranium as:

        - Rare earth oxides: 20,000 tonnes a year of REO;

        - Phosphoric acid: 80,000 tonnes a year of P2O5 as 61% technical-grade phsophoric acid; 

        - Gypsum: 500,000 tonnes a year; and 

        - Uranium oxide: 150 tonnes a year of U3O8. Uranium and other impurities, such as iron, thorium and aluminium, must be removed from the rare earths stream in order to produce saleable rare earth products.

Over the next 15 months, Arafura Resources will seek environmental approvals from the South Australian and Australian governments for the Whyalla Rare Earths Complex. This will include extensive community consultation with the Whyalla community before construction of the Complex begins in 2012.

Stephen Ward

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

Qualifications BSc (Hons) Chemistry, PhD Physical Chemistry

Appointed 16 December 2009

Stephen (Steve) Ward has over 30 years experience in the Chemical, mining and minerals processing industries. He is a graduate from the University of Nottingham; BSc Hons Chemistry (1976) and PhD in Physical Chemistry (1979). Steve gained 20 years broad experience with titanium pigment producer Tioxide Group Ltd (now Huntsman Pigments) where he worked in production, operational, engineering and technical roles at the Australian production facility.

He became the inaugural General Manager responsible for the development and startup of Tioxide’s manufacturing facilities in Malaysia (early 90’s). He has subsequently moved to business management roles based in the UK and became an executive director of the global company with general management responsibility for the European, Middle East and Southern Africa business unit.

He then spent 7 years with Australian publicly listed minerals sands producer Iluka where he was President of the USA mining and processing operations and global Executive General Manager responsible for sales and marketing and business development.

He then formed his own consulting business providing services to the resources and chemicals industries. He is currently engaged by Cristal, a Saudi Arabian based titanium pigment producer as Senior Vice President Strategy and Development. Steve is a former non executive director of Australian publicly listed mineral sands producer Consolidated Rutile Ltd.

He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Gavin Lockyer

Company Secretary / CFO

Qualifications BBus, CA

Appointed 19 June 2006

Gavin Lockyer is a graduate in accounting and finance. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a member of the Finance and Treasury Association of Australia. He has 15 years experience in the banking and mining industries.

Steven Mackowski

GM Technology

Qualifications BAppSc, MEng (in progress)

Appointed 13 March 2006

Steven Mackowski is a qualified engineer with 30 years technical and operational experience in uranium, industrial minerals, nickel, kaolin and iron ore. Steve also has experience in utility industries including gas and electric power generation.

He has worked most recently with Sydney Gas and previously with the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority, Iluka, Tiwest, WMC, Comalco, Hamersley Iron and Mary Kathleen Uranium.

Richard Brescianini

GM Exploration & Development

Qualifications BSc(Hons)

Appointed 18 March 2007

Richard Brescianini is a graduate in geology and geophysics, and has extensive private and public sector experience in the minerals industry in a career that spans over 20 years.

From 1987 to 1999, Richard worked with BHP Minerals on base and precious metals exploration programs throughout Australasia and North America, contributing to significant economic discoveries at Eloise (copper-gold) and Cannington (silver-lead-zinc).

Richard led the Northern Territory Government’s Geological Survey as its Director from 2003 to 2007, and was responsible for major geoscience initiatives and investment attraction strategies. Prior to that he was the Survey’s Chief Geophysicist.

Shasha Lu

Executive Director

Qualifications PhD, Masters degree

Appointed 1 July 2009

Ms. Shasha Lu was Executive Director and CEO of Hong Kong East China Non-Ferrous Mineral Resources Co. Ltd. (HKECE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastern China Exploration & Development Bureau (ECE). HKECE holds the foreign business interests of ECE.

As an employee of Arafura and based in Nanjing in the Peoples Republic of China, Ms. Lu is responsible for Business Development opportunities and synergies for Arafura within China.

Ms Lu holds a Degree in Medicine from the Tianjin University, China and a Masters Degree from Nanjing University, China.  She is currently studying for an EMBA in Nanjing University.  Ms Lu has worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and as a Visiting Scholar at the Geneva University during which time, she undertook some work in the World Health Organisation.

In 2008, Ms Lu Shasha joined Eastern China Exploration & Development Bureau and became the executive director and CEO of Hong Kong East China Non-Ferrous Mineral Resources Co Ltd.  Ms Lu is also a director of Australian ECE Nolans Investment Limited and ECE Nolans.

Neil Graham

GM Operations

Qualifications BSc (Hons) Chemical Engineering, C.Eng.

Appointed 1 September 2010

Neil Graham has more than 25 years of international experience in the chemical industry, encompassing design, construction, and commissioning of both start up and brownfield installations, in addition to substantial operations management experience of facilities in several different countries.

He is a chartered engineer who commenced his professional career in BP prior to joining ICI, where he was involved in major project design and implementation roles. He developed the Asian market presence of Rittershaus & Blecher and subsequently completed several technical and site manager roles in Huntsman Pigments before becoming the Group Sulphate Manufacturing Director.

More recently, Neil was responsible for Orica’s largest and most complex facility worldwide, in Gladstone, Queensland, producing ammonium nitrate, sodium cyanide and chloralkali products, and joined Arafura Resources in September 2010.

John Ganser

GM Projects

Qualifications BE (Hons) Mechanical Engineering

Appointed 13 September 2010

John Ganser is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Adelaide with over 30 years of experience in the minerals and metals industry.  He has worked for client organisations as well as engineering and project management organisations, including Rio Tinto, BHP, Iluka Resources, Hatch, SKM GHD and Calibre Projects.

His experience includes engineering, study and project management and research and development, in a range of commodities including silver, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, mineral sands and extensive experience in iron making.  In these roles John has developed plant, equipment and processes from concept through to the commercialisation of new processes and the construction of large processing facilities.

John has had senior project management roles in the development of the HIsmelt process (Rio Tinto) in Germany and construction of their large research facility in Western Australia, BHP’s HBI plant in Port Hedland, infrastructure for BHP’s RGP6 project and FMG’s Christmas Creek Expansion Project in the Pilbara.

Shareholder Information & Registry

* Merged holdings for directors include direct and indirect holdings UPDATED AS AT 8 DECEMBER 2010