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ADU ReVIeW

Peak looks to keep it

in-house

ust days before Peak Rare Earths Ltd and environmental feasibility of undertaking
Jmanaging director Bardin Davis spoke at further downstream processing and refining Bardin Davis
Africa Down Under, the company began ex- opportunities in Tanzania.
ploring what he described as “a bit of a stra- “Depending on the outcome of that study, (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr) have seen
tegic shift”. we’ll either move forward with downstream heightened demand due to their use in
Peak previously planned to ship the rare operations and a refinery in country, or al- green and renewable energies, including EV
earths from its Ngualla project in Tanzania ternatively, revert back to our former strategy batteries and wind turbines. Each EV battery
to a refinery plant in Teesside, UK, but the which is to develop a refiner in Teesside at uses up to 1kg of NdPR oxide.
company is now looking at a vertically inte- our site in the north-east of the UK.” “[Our business is] very much aligned with
grated downstream processing option within Peak is aspiring to deliver a plus-20 year decarbonisation, the rise of EVs and renew-
the African country. mining operation at Ngualla, supported by a able energy,” Davis said. “Ngualla is one
“As we announced to the market [two 18.5mt @ 4.8% TREO reserve and 214.4mt of the largest, highest grade, undeveloped
days prior], we’re undertaking a bit of a stra- @ 2.15% TREO resource for 37,200 tpa pro- NdPr projects in the world.”
tegic shift,” Davis said. “We’re moving from duction. Following Peak receiving its mining li-
an integrated, upfront, mine and refinery Davis said the reasoning behind Peak’s cence last year, the company is now look-
model to a staged and sequenced integra- new approach was to simply mitigate risks ing at landing a framework agreement for
tion approach. and costs. Ngualla which is “close to being finalised”.
“Our initial focus will be to develop [Ngual- “It’s going to materially reduce our upfront A BFS update is also on the way while the
la] as a standalone project and produce a capital expenditure and funding costs,” he company selects an EPCM provider.
high-grade rare earth concentrate which will said. “It’s going to materially lower commis- “We’ve got a laser focus on getting through
be initially shipped to third-party refiners. sioning and technical risks…with bringing on to our FID and getting our project into con-
“As part of a longer-term integration strate- two large projects in two separate continents struction and development,” Davis said.
gy, we’re going to undertake an independent at the same time.”
assessment as to the technical, economic Rare earths products such as neodymium – Fraser Palamara

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