Environmental baseline studies have now been completed for the Cummins Range project in WA’s Kimberley region
Next steps including securing a heritage agreement and completing a pre-feasibility study (PFS)
The main focus at the project is now on securing product offtake agreements
Special report: All critical environmental baseline studies have been completed for the Cummins Range rare earth and phosphate project, a key milestone to finalise project approvals.
RareX (ASX:REE) is developing one of Australia’s most promising projects at Cummins Range, which holds some 524Mt at 0.31% total rare earth oxide (TREO) and 4.6% phosphate.
A strategic update released in October last year showed the project could supply 12,000t of rare earth oxides and 169,000t of battery grade phosphate for 15 years.
That would see it play into the EV market both in the supply of magnet metals for motors and LFP battery cells, with its material potentially substantive enough to supply 2.5m EVs a year.
REE also has the backing of Nitron, the second largest distributor of fertilisers in the world, after signing an MoU in November last year for the offtake of 250,000t of phosphate from 2025.
Baseline studies ticked off
The near-term rare earths developer has now completed all critical environmental baseline studies for Cummins Range, paving the way to formally engage with regulators to progress towards the next phase of approvals.
According to the report, no unusual or unexpected observations were made against initial desktop assessments and all observed risk factors have precedent mitigation strategies applied in the industry.
The project is >10km from any reserves or other key receptors and is nestled amongst large regional landforms that extend well beyond the project area and as such provide plenty of continuous habitat for existing species to use during and after mining operations.
Key milestones to firm up pathway to approvals
“Results of this year-long survey were in line with expectations, with all the project’s environmental aspects able to be successfully managed via standard operational plans,” REE CEO James Durrant says.
REE says the environmental information collected and reported upon is sufficient to develop a project description that can be used to formally engage the regulators (EPA, DWER, DEMIRS) for a preliminary discussion of the project.
Next steps will be to submit either a referral under Part IV of the EP Act or for progressing directly to permitting upon completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
Key milestones such as the signing of a mining heritage agreement and completion of the project’s PFS are required to firm up the pathway to approvals.
It is anticipated that once approval engagement has formally been initiated with the regulators, permitting can be completed within 12 months.
This article was developed in collaboration with RareX, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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