Australian Rare Earths has entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Neo Performance Materials to accelerate Koppamurra towards first production.
The flagship project comprises 4,000 square kilometres of adjoining tenements in South Australia and Victoria.
Koppamurra mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) production is an important first step towards realising AR3’s ambitions to build a strategically significant, global rare earths business.
Neo is a world-leading producer of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) rare earth permanent magnets.
(REPM) and other rare earth products. Neo has been a shareholder in AR3 since its listing in 2021 and has identified Koppamurra as a potential key future source of neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, which are all vital to REPMs.
Neo operates several rare earth production facilities around the world, including separation plants in Estonia and China that source MREC from third-party producers. Neo’s experience in providing input to MREC supply will be invaluable to AR3, as demonstrated by Neo’s ongoing success in securing light and heavy rare earth raw materials from the United States and elsewhere.