Quarterly Activities Report to 30 June 2024

Home > 2024 > 07

Month: July 2024

Quarterly Activities Report to 30 June 2024

Posted on by Ian Donabie

We are pleased to advise our Quarterly Activities Report to 30 June 2024 has been released.

In line with ASM’s strategic business priorities, this Quarter, the Company:

  • Delivered several successful optimisations of the flowsheet and design of the Dubbo Project. These included demonstrating a simplified flowsheet design for the production of high-purity hafnia and identifying economic benefits in an alternative niobium oxide circuit. The Company commenced testwork on an alternative circuit for rare earth production (RE Options Assessment) which will continue for the remainder of CY2024. These significant achievements highlight the Dubbo Project’s capacity to produce products that meet growing global demand and identify promising opportunities to reduce both capital and operating expenditures;
  • Executed an Option Agreement with Caspin Resources Limited to provide ASM with an option to earn up to 75% of the rare earth element rights in Caspin’s Mount Squires Project through staged earn in rights;
  • Strengthened its balance sheet by completing a capital raising consisting of an institutional placement and rights issue to raise ~A$16.6 million which positions ASM to undertake activities for progression of final stage engineering for the Dubbo Project in 2024; and
  • Received a non-binding and conditional Letter of Interest from Export Development Canada to provide a debt funding package of up to A$400 million for the construction and execution phase of the Dubbo Project.
Read the Quarterly Report

REE Whitepaper with Mining Journal

Posted on by Ian Donabie

The security and sustainability of critical mineral supply chains continues to be at the forefront of national policy development and international partnership ambitions. As these discussions evolve, Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) has teamed up with Mining Journal and MiningNews.Net to produce a whitepaper focused on rare earth elements markets, their challenges and their opportunities. This foundational document provides a grounding in the realities of the REE space to help inform a range of stakeholders.

Read the REE Whitepaper

The REE Revolution: Foreword by Rowena Smith

Rare earth elements (REEs) are playing a leading role in the globally shared ambition to build diverse, resilient and sustainable critical minerals supply chains. With a broad range of end uses – from clean energy technologies and semi-conductors to medical devices and defence applications – the relevance of REEs in supporting a sustainable and secure future cannot be overstated.

As demand for these materials continues to grow, the importance being placed on increasing production and enhancing processing capability is illustrated by the fact REEs appear on the official critical minerals lists of Australia, Canada, the EU, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the UK and the US. These strategically developed lists are driving activity within the resources sectors of the relevant jurisdictions and have been the basis for the policies and partnerships developing between those countries with the shared objective of mitigating risk within an existing supply chain dominated by a single jurisdiction.

Australia has an essential role to play in the development of this geopolitically sensitive market.

Rowena Smith, Managing Director & CEO, Australian Strategic Materials

With a significant endowment of REEs and as an established global leader in the extraction and processing of raw materials, Australia has an essential role to play in the development of this geopolitically sensitive market.

Through engagement and agreements, Australia has taken positive steps to enhance cross-jurisdictional opportunities with countries including the US, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the EU and Vietnam. These enhanced relationships are looking to develop trade, investment and partnership opportunities within the critical minerals sector but there is still more to be done if we are to fully leverage this generational opportunity.

The 2024 Australian Federal Budget placed an emphasis on Australia’s ability to ‘add value’ to its critical minerals endowment – providing incentives to do more processing activity on Australian shores. It is a commendable ambition and one that one that we should continue to strive for when specifically discussing REEs. But it will not come without its challenges. Delivering on this ambition will require investment and support in both project development and workforce capability.

At Australian Strategic Materials (ASM), we are progressing the development of our Dubbo Project in New South Wales. Here we will extract, separate and refine light and heavy REE oxides. Our refining capability has been developed in partnership with Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) over many years and represents sovereign technical knowhow and IP integral to the successful delivery of the project and broader growth of this sector.

I hope this publication – developed in partnership with Mining Journal – provides some insights into the compelling nature of the global REE opportunity and why Australia should be positioning itself at the forefront of the revolution.

Read the REE whitepaper

Toongi Soil Carbon Project registered

Posted on by Ian Donabie
Core samples taken in 2023 will provide the baseline for the project

We’re taking an innovative approach to carbon farming.

Since 2021, our subsidiary Toongi Pastoral Company has been working to identify opportunities to capture and store carbon at the Dubbo Project as part of the Government’s Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme.

The Scheme encourages businesses to run projects that reduce emissions or store carbon, by using new technology, upgrading equipment, changing business practices, and changing the way vegetation is managed. Measured increases of in-soil carbon content can earn ACCUs, which can potentially be offset against emissions.

Earlier this year, we were pleased to receive confirmation from the Clean Energy Regulator that the Toongi Soil Carbon Project has been registered as an eligible offset project under the Scheme.

As we continue the development of the Dubbo Project, ASM is committed to supporting the drive toward net zero. Through innovative projects such as this, as well as actively managing and minimising greenhouse gas emissions, we aim to continuously improve our carbon footprint and meet our emission reduction targets.

Learn more about our approach to sustainability
ASM