To date, Huntai has made payments totalling $12 million, enabling Northern Minerals to start works at the Browns Range Project in the northern Tanami region.
Huatai is a subsidiary of Shandong Taizhong Energy, one among the seven largest coal companies in China.
Through the development of the Browns Range Project, Northern Minerals aims to be the first significant producer of heavy rare earth (HRE) element dysprosium outside of China.
Dysprosium is an essential ingredient in the production of DyNdFeB (dysprosium neodymium iron-boron) magnets used in clean energy and high technology solutions.
Earlier this week, the company commenced a 1,800 metre drilling campaign at Browns Range, as it finalises studies towards a final investment decision in mid-Q1 2017.
The drilling will occur within the central, western and eastern Gambit first stage open pits, in areas where shallow infill drilling is required.
Northern Minerals will also drill eight groundwater monitoring bores, which will be used for environmental monitoring during the pilot plant phase.
Moreover, the company will complete first-pass drill test of a high priority exploration target at Banshee South.
Banshee South, located 10 kilometres south of the proposed Browns Range Pilot Plant, was identified by soil, rock chip and channel sampling, which confirmed heavy rare earth mineralisation.
Northern Minerals’ share price has increased by more than 50% during the past six months, last trading at $0.115.