Arafura Resources Ltd (ASX:ARU) has accelerated development activity at Nolans project in the Northern Territory as the company aims to become Australia’s next fully integrated neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) producer.
This has been facilitated by the completion of a fully underwritten $23.2 million entitlement offer.
The company is targeting a late-2020 start of early construction with Wave International Pty Ltd providing engineering support for the definitive feasibility study (DFS).
Planning for execution readiness activities is advancing with project commissioning targeted for early to mid-2022.
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Wave International has been appointed to assist with project delivery services for the execution readiness phase, which will include:
- Finalisation of tendering and contracting strategies and identification of potential contractors;
- Preparation of major contract scopes of work ready for tendering of early contractor engagement;
- Development of control budget and schedules based on the DFS;
- Development of project specifications and standard documents; and
- Development of project policies and plans including execution, HSEC, local and indigenous procurement, indigenous engagement and change management.
These activities will culminate in awarding the contracts for the early contractor involvement (ECI) phase of the project.
Arafura has also executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NT Link Pty Ltd to secure the supply of a second-hand accommodation village for the project.
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Utilising the results of the DFS, NT Link provided a quotation for the provision of accommodation rooms and facilities for a construction camp of 650 people, with an ongoing operational camp of 300 persons.
The company has the option to award the tender for the construction camp to NT Link between now and February 2020 and if exercised, the option will ensure the availability of high-quality second-hand accommodation village facilities for Nolans.
Work has continued on a number of minor workstreams to address opportunities identified in the DFS.
These include investigation of potential savings through campaign operations and optimisation of the process plant layout.
Pre-execution readiness activities have continued through 2019 to enable efficient transition from feasibility to front-end engineering and design (FEED), procurement and construction.
Arafura is now looking to bring forward project commitment and FEED with the aim of facilitating the beginning of procurement and early works construction activities shortly after production commitment and availability of project funding.