Hastings Technology Metals Limited (ASX: HAS) has hit a major milestone with its Yangibana Project in Western Australia, with the award of an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Management (EPCM) contract for its rare earths processing plant and associated infrastructure to DRA Pacific Pty Ltd.
The appointment of DRA Pacific as the EPCM contractor for the Yangibana Project was preceded by a series of value adding engineering studies and the Front- End-Engineering-Design (FEED) completed by DRA Pacific during 2018 and 2019.
The EPCM contract will cover all aspects of the design and construction of the processing facility and associated non-process infrastructure, capable of producing 15,000 tonnes of Mixed Rare Earths Carbonate (MREC) per year.
Hastings’ Executive Chairman, Charles Lew, said the estimated $350 million EPCM contract is the single largest dollar value contract associated with the Yangibana Project.
Mr Lew said choosing DRA Pacific was the logical choice given the already close working relationship built up over the last 15 months, and the experience in rare earths processing plant design that DRA Pacific bring to the table.
“We are pleased to have DRA involved in the construction of the Yangibana processing plant,” Mr Lew said.
“Their knowledge and experience in developing successful minerals processing projects makes them the ideal candidate to manage the construction of our project.
The award of the EPCM contract moves the Yangibana Rare Earths Project firmly into development phase to commence project execution and progress to production of our mixed rare earth carbonate by 2022.
DRA CEO Andrew Naude said Yangibana is an internationally important rare earths project.
“DRA is honoured to have been selected by Hastings for the execution of the project. We have put together a very strong team for the delivery of the project and our Project Manager has significant experience in delivering successful projects.”
The EPCM contract is a fundamental requirement of Hastings’ debt providers and hence is pivotal to the project financing process.