Iluka Resources announces a new Balranald heavy mineral sand project and updates the mineral resource for the Wimmera REE project.

Iluka reported its financial results for 2022, highlighting strong operational performance and production at their Eneabba project reaching full capacity. In addition, Iluka announced a US$323M (AU$480M) investment to develop the Balranald project for heavy mineral sands and rare earths, and to update the mineral resource for its Wimmera project. 

The company stepped into rare earths through its Eneabba stockpile containing monazite that was recovered and largely exported to China. Iluka then secured a loan as part of the Australian Critical Minerals Facility towards building a rare earth refinery, slated for commissioning in 2025. The refinery will process the remaining monazite-containing stockpiles from Eneabba before moving on to Wimmera. 

In the company’s latest update, Iluka provided a resource and reserve update on Wimmera with an indicated mineral resource of 380Mt of material grading 4.6% heavy minerals for 18Mt of contained heavy minerals. In addition, a new mine in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Balranald, has been identified as prospective for both heavy minerals and rare earths. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in 2023, with first production matched to the rare earth refinery in H1 2025. The project’s annual production target outlines 50-70ktpa rare earth concentrate over an initial 9.5-year life of mine. Concentrates are planned to be shipped to Western Australia, via Victoria, to Iluka’s existing plants for further processing. 

The fragility of global critical mineral supply chains revealed by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the continued dependence on China has only heightened the importance of supply chain security for critical minerals, like rare earths. Australia is currently only involved in the mining and beneficiation stages of the REE supply chain however upcoming rare earth processing projects like Iluka’s Eneabba and Lynas’s Kalgoorlie plant are looking to change this narrative and provide a more geographically diverse supply chain.