Arafura Rare Earths Limited (ASX: ARU) has entered into an agreement for the supply of the sulphuric acid plant for its 100 percent owned Nolans Neodymium- Praseodymium (NdPr) Project in the Northern Territory.
The sulphuric acid plant will be supplied by Chemetics Inc. a global supplier of sulphuric acid and other specialty chemical facilities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Worley.
The sulphuric acid plant for Nolans will utilise Chemetics proprietary CORE-SO2 process which significantly reduces capital cost, maintenance cost and sulphur dioxide emissions from the plant.
The Chemetics plant is also significantly smaller than a traditional sulphur burning acid plant allowing increased use of modularisation reducing the volume of site installation labour. These savings were incorporated into the recent Nolans Project Update.
The initial work package includes finalisation of specifications and engineering design to allow the plant to be incorporated into the overall project design.
Letting the contract for the supply of the acid plant to a global supplier such as Chemetics provides confidence around the outcomes for the Project when the team reaches commissioning,” Arafura’s General Manager Projects, Stewart Watkins, said.
“Along with that, the progress made on the selection of our key vendors and placement of long lead orders means that we are set to commence early works construction in the coming weeks.”
As well as the sulphuric acid plant, the company has also placed several other the orders during recent weeks which are on the critical path for the Project, including: