Northern Minerals Ltd (ASX:NTU) (OTCMKTS:NOURF) (FRA:NUN) has surpassed a new production milestone after producing 210,000 kilograms of heavy rare earth carbonate (REC) at the Browns Range Pilot Plant in northern Western Australia.
A shipment of 40,406 kilograms of REC that contains 1,835 kilograms of dysprosium oxide and 233 kilograms of terbium oxide is ready at Browns Range for delivery to the company’s offtake partner thyssenkrupp Materials Trading GmbH, bringing total REC production to 211,109 kilograms.
The REC produced to date contains a total 103,731 kilograms of rare earth oxide, which in turn contains 9,751 kilograms of dysprosium oxide and 1,245 kilograms of terbium oxide.
“Most strategically placed” HRE operation
Chief executive officer Mark Tory said: “Despite the operational and supply chain challenges in the past 12 months, the global trend toward electrification of transport continues to accelerate because of regulatory changes and bold decisions by car manufacturers on transition to fully-electric fleets.
“Browns Range is still the most strategically placed heavy rare earths operation in the western world, and we continue to apply our significant R&D learnings to successfully produce batches of REC for our European offtake partner thyssenkrupp from our Pilot Plant in the Kimberley region of WA.”
Browns Range Pilot Plant and rare earth carbonate bags in foreground.
Market outlook
Both dysprosium and terbium are critical elements in the permanent magnet motors used in E-mobility powertrain applications, in particular battery electric vehicles (BEV), full/plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), mild-hybrid electric vehicles (MHEV) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV).
Global light vehicle production is forecast to reach more than 100 million units by 2030 with over half of expected to be electric, full hybrid and mild hybrid electric vehicles.
Global light vehicle production forecast.
By 2030, the global light vehicle EV market is forecast to be dominated by permanent magnet motor powertrains with greater than 75% share of the market.
Additional supply from the rare-earths industry is required for the rapidly increasing demand for dysprosium and terbium used in permanent magnet motors in E-mobility powertrain applications while simultaneously continuing to supply the demand for non-automotive applications.