Arabic version: بدء الأعمال في مشروع نولانز للمعادن الأرضية النادرة

According to ABC News, Arafura Rare Earths has broken ground on its Nolans mining project, about 135 kilometres north of Alice Springs, after two decades of development. The $1.8 billion project has backing from the Australian and US governments, as well as a significant stake held by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

Company officials and politicians attended the ceremony in Central Australia, where Arafura said the next three years would be spent constructing a mine and processing plant. Chief executive and managing director Darryl Cuzzubbo said hundreds of people would build the facilities in one of the country’s most remote regions.

The project is intended to produce neodymium and praseodymium, rare earths used by magnet manufacturers and in supply chains for electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence capabilities. Arafura has supply agreements with Hyundai, Kia, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and GE.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the project would change the critical minerals landscape, while Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King called it a “nation-building project”. King said the federal government had provided $1.2 billion in support.

The Nolans mine was among projects cited in a critical minerals agreement signed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump in Washington DC last year. The NT government says Nolans will be the third fully integrated ore-to-oxide operation outside mainland China and is expected to produce around 4 per cent of global neodymium-praseodymium oxide demand outside China.