Northern Minerals secures new rare earths offtake agreement

Dysprosium. Photo: Materialscientist/Wikimedia Commons

Australian critical metals miner Northern Minerals has secured a new offtake agreement for its rare earths after canceling a previous deal last week, according to INN Resource.

The new deal between Northern Minerals and Germany’s thyssenkrupp Materials Trading is effective immediately and encompasses all heavy rare earth carbonate produced at the company’s Browns Range pilot plant in Western Australia.

In addition to Northern Minerals providing thyssenkrupp with rare earth carbonate, the two companies have agreed to work together on implementing new separating technologies, as well as on any future expansions of the Browns Range project.

According to INN Resource, heavy rare earth carbonate has a number of technological uses. Most importantly, dysprosium — one of the heavy rare earths — is used to manufacture the high-strength magnets vital to the electric and hybrid vehicle sector, as well as wind turbines.