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West Australian
27-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Hastings heads down multi-commodity road with WA gold grab
Hastings Technology Metals has nabbed a promising Western Australian gold project, pushing along the company's plans to diversify into other commodities. The acquisition adds to Hastings' rare earths, gold and niobium portfolio, which includes its flagship Yangibana rare earths project. Hastings has signed a binding agreement to acquire all the shares in private firm Great Western Gold, which has an option and agreements to scoop up interests in the Whiteheads gold project held by several ASX-listed companies. The tenement package comprises 14 licences across 380 square kilometres, 80km northeast of Kalgoorlie, and will amalgamate and consolidate leases in an overlooked Goldfields area crying out for new managers to throw time and funding its way. Hastings will acquire the Whiteheads package via Great Western Gold's option to purchase a 75 per cent stake in nine exploration licences and a prospecting licence held by Great Boulder Resources. These licences are held in joint venture with private company Zebina Minerals. Great Western Gold has also reached an agreement to grab three remaining exploration licences and one mining lease from a mix of interests held by Great Boulder, Mithril Resources and Aberdeen Mining. Hastings will hold all of the three licences and the lease. Hastings will be able to lay its hands on a significant volume of historic data to instigate an extensive and systematic exploration program to outline a maiden JORC resource at Whiteheads. The company anticipates the estimate will be reveal-ready later this year. Andrew Forrest's Wyloo recently struck a deal with Hastings, in which Wyloo will pick up 60 per cent of Hastings' imposing Yangibana rare earths project, which also contains the coveted mineral niobium. Yangibana is 270km east-northeast of Carnarvon in WA's Gascoyne region. The Whiteheads project is in the gold-rich Eastern Goldfields and hosts several high-priority, drill-ready targets, including Blue Poles, Seven Leaders and Lady Betty. An estimated 10,000 metres of historical drilling, soil sampling, gravity surveys and geochemical programs have been completed across the project's ground. Whiteheads is considered an advanced gold project. It is close to existing gold processing facilities with a total processing capacity of more than 9 million tonnes per annum, established infrastructure, a well-maintained road network and other mines, such as Northern Star Resources' Kanowna Belle mine. Kanowna Bell is 40km south of Whiteheads and produced 166,000 ounces of gold in the past financial year. It has a processing plant with a 2Mtpa processing capacity. The purchase cost of $370,000 in cash and 3 million Hastings shares, valued today at 32.5 cents each for a share value of $975,000, could be considered a modest upfront sum at $1.345M in total if the company can quickly prove up a worthwhile resource. Hastings will pay an additional deferred sum up to $800,000 upon reporting certain mineral resource milestones, above minimum cut-off grades. Hastings expects to begin its due diligence and to start drafting the relevant paperwork to complete the purchase in the coming weeks. After it completes the acquisition, the company plans to launch into initial air core and reverse circulation drilling programs to test for extensions and infill key prospect areas at Blue Pole, Lady Betty and Seven Leaders. It will undertake soil and geochemistry programs across the entire project, conduct scoping studies and baseline environmental assessments, and assess the project's mining potential using nearby third-party processing options. The deal with Wyloo encouragingly resulted in Hastings shedding about $220M debt owed to Wyloo, which was becoming a burden to the company. That debt was created when Wyloo provided an exchangeable note to Hastings so it 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 the debt was paid down back in February when Hastings transferred the bulk of its shares in Neo to Wyloo. Under the terms of the now completed deal, Wyloo and Hastings have formed a 60:40 joint venture, with Wyloo assuming operatorship of Yangibana, which is considered one of the most advanced unmined rare earths projects globally in terms of spent capital. Wyloo retains an option to increase its stake to 70 per cent for at least an additional $20M. Hastings sees Whiteheads as a low-cost entry to a well-understood gold exploration opportunity, with plenty of upside potential, drill targets at the ready and other untested anomalies near surface. The company's latest decision to spread its wings across a diverse commodity base is part of its growth trajectory plans and could pay big dividends, as the gold price continues its gangbuster run, hovering near US$3330 (A$5145) per ounce. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
16-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Wyloo signs as Hastings clears debt and gets rare earths project set
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. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
The Age
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Wyloo signs as Hastings clears debt and gets rare earths project set
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. '... Going forward, Hastings will focus on its Ark Gold and Brockman Niobium and Heavy Rare Earths Projects ...' Hastings Technology Metals executive chairman, Mr Charles Lew 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.
Sydney Morning Herald
16-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Wyloo signs as Hastings clears debt and gets rare earths project set
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. '... Going forward, Hastings will focus on its Ark Gold and Brockman Niobium and Heavy Rare Earths Projects ...' Hastings Technology Metals executive chairman, Mr Charles Lew 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.
