Wyloo signs as Hastings clears debt and gets rare earths project set

West Australian

16-05-2025

After some months of negotiations, Andrew Forrest's Wyloo has signed on the dotted line to consummate a deal struck with ASX listed Hastings Technology Metals that will see Wyloo pick up 60 per cent of Hastings' giant Yangibana rare earths project in WA.
The Yangibana rare earths project, which also harbours niobium, is 270km east-northeast of Carnarvon in WA's Gascoyne region.
As part of the deal, Hastings will shed about $220m in debt in total owed to Wyloo that was becoming something of a millstone around its neck.
That debt was originally created when Wyloo provided an exchangeable note to Hastings so the latter could pick up 21.5 per cent of Canadian rare earths magnet manufacturer Neo Performance Materials. Those shares have since dropped in value after the sharp decline in global rare earths prices.
About $80m of that debt was paid down back in February when Hasting's transferred the bulk of its shares in Neo to Wyloo.
It will now sell its remaining $7.4m worth of Neo stock and pay that money to Wyloo, in addition to 60 per cent of the Yangibana rare earths project. Wyloo will retain an option to increase to 70 per cent for at least an additional $20m.
Under the terms of the deal now signed, Wyloo and Hastings will form a 60/40 joint venture and Wyloo will assume operatorship of Yangibana that is likely one of the most advanced unmined rare earths projects in the world in terms of spent capital.
Hastings said Wyloo is well placed to drive project development, funding and other technical aspects necessary to take the project through to a final investment decision.
The new deal will see Dr Tony Chamberlain – currently engaged as Special Projects Director at Wyloo Consolidated Investments - appointed as project director for the JV and the parties will form an oversight committee that will consist of two representatives from both Hastings and Wyloo.
Chamberlain holds a PhD in metallurgy and has held management roles within BHP and WMC Resources in the past.
Notably the joint venture will cover both Stage 1 of the Yangibana project's Beneficiation Plant and its Stage 2 plan for a Hydrometallurgical Plant.
The JV partners will contribute to the costs of the JV on a pro-rata basis and Hastings says its share of the remaining CAPEX needed to get the project into production could be as low as just $32m if a 50/50 debt to equity split can be achieved.
That low figure comes about in part because by the end of December last year, Hastings had already invested a massive $158m in supporting infrastructure at the project which partly includes a 294-room accommodation village, a 2km-long airstrip that can handle aircraft with up to 70-seat capacity, a 20km site access road, a water supply bore-field with six bores and a 20km pipeline.
Other development onsite includes communications towers enabling 24/7 high-speed communication and various long-lead time equipment is already in storage and ready for installation or deployment.
The Yangibana project comprises a 650 square kilometre tenement package over ground known geologically as the Gifford Creek ferro-carbonatite complex.
The project hosts a current mineral resource of 29.93 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.93% total rare earths oxides (TREO). The particular significance of that resource is its underpinning by a high combined 0.32% grade for the light magnet rare earths oxides of neodymium and praseodymium.
From that resource, Hastings' exploration and modelling has distilled-out a respectable combined proven and probable ore reserve of 20.93Mt grading 0.90% TREO, with a combined neodymium and praseodymium oxide grade of 0.33%.
The current Yangibana reserves support an expected mine operating life of at least 17 years and the project will be developed in two stages.
Initial development is proposed to complete construction of the mine and beneficiation plant to produce 37,000 tonnes per annum of rare earths concentrate, with a separate niobium recovery stream which will yield additional revenue as a by-product.
A second stage evolution will comprise a separate hydrometallurgical recovery plant which has already incurred a capital cost of $68m, as at the end of last year.
Hastings is looking to complete construction of that plant at the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area, about 12km south of the town of Onslow on WA's northwest coast.
With Wyloo now steering the ship at Yangibana, Hastings will focus on its other projects which include the Brockman Heavy Rare Earths project in WA and its adjacent gold exploration tenements at Ark Gold and other exploration tenements near Yangibana.
After a difficult period punctuated by the exchangeable note debt that could have been worth as much as $220m at maturity later this year, Hastings appears to have cleared the slate with this deal and is now in a solid position.
With that massive debt gone and a partner with deep technical knowledge and even deeper pockets that are backed by billionaire Andrew Forrest, Hastings will be in poll position with its 40 per cent interest in a project that will likely find its way to fruition in a global market that is clamouring for a western rare earths supply.
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