Arafura Resources first started exploration at the Nolans Bore deposit in Australia’s Northern Territory in 1999 when the rare earths industry was a footnote in the global resource market. Now, in an era of soaring prices and global supply shortages, the Perth-based group looks set to become part of a new generation of major producers filling the gap left by China’s retreat from the international market. Arafura recently secured a site in Whyalla, South Australia, to build its rare earths processing complex. It plans to produce 20,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides (REO) a year at Whyalla using mineral concentrate from the Nolans Bore Mine. The company also expanded the scope of its bankable feasibility study (BFS) to simplify the extraction of co-products to focus on the higher-value production of rare earths. It will also increase pursue a higher grade of the mineral concentrate to make savings in transport and...