Hastings snaps up bargain rare earths hydromet plant
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
Doug Bright And Matt Birney
Hastings Technology Metals pulled a rabbit out of its hat after landing a 49 percent stake in a brand new, affordable rare earth hydrometallurgical facility in Thailand that has yet to fire a single shot.
The plant, which was partly built in Thailand during the last rare earths/lithium boom but was never commissioned, represents a fast track to cash flow for ASX-listed Hastings as the global rare earths market reaches fever pitch once again.
It also represents a hard-to-ignore alternative processing route for Hastings’ 40 per cent-owned Yangibana hard rock rare earth deposit in WA, which is jointly owned by Billionaire Twiggy Forrest’s investment firm Wyloo.
The current Yangibana plan aims to tap ore from Western Australia through a yet-to-be-built hydrometal plant. However, Wyloo CEO Luca Giocovazzi said the new facility in Thailand could represent a valuable strategic option for the joint venture.
Giocovazzi said: “It represents a capital–An effective downstream route and a fast route to market for one of the world’s top markets–grade NdPr deposits. Wyloo is working closely with Hastings and we look forward to jointly exploring the economic benefits of this processing option.”
Hastings has signed a binding memorandum to acquire a 49 percent stake in a Thai company that owns a fully licensed hydrometallurgical processing plant at Kabin Buri, Thailand. Part of this deal will also see Hasting gain majority board control of the operational entity that will operate the facility.
The company says the deal effectively establishes a manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia at a fraction of the cost and time required to build equivalent infrastructure in remote Western Australia.
Hasting’s will pay just US$15 million (AU$21.91 million) for its 49 per cent stake, with a mix of equity, production-related deferred payments and commissioning costs, pre-financed by Singapore-based vendor Enuo Holdings.
Hastings has paid a refundable deposit of US$0.5 million ($0.73 million) and expects to issue 23 million new shares at 50 cents each at closing; The stock portion is worth US$8 million ($11.68 million).
The estimated payment of US$5.5 million (AU$8.03 million) is planned to be made in three annual installments, provided the facility reaches its operational and production targets.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hastings will retain a majority of the board to direct strategy, while Enuo will run the day-to-day operations of the facility.
Part of the challenge faced by those new to the rare earth business is processing know-how, and on the surface at least, Hastings’ new partner Enuo appears to have a lot of knowledge on this subject.
The Singaporean company operates a number of enrichment facilities, laboratories and mining projects spread across Africa and Southeast Asia; one of these is an operating rare earth mine in Africa that is initially expected to feed the new facility.
Enuo operates critical mineral smelting and separation facilities as well as rare metal waste recycling facilities in both China and Japan. Among other critical mineral operations, it is primarily focused on the more lucrative industrial magnetic rare earths used in electric vehicles. These include praseodymium neodymium oxide, dysprosium oxide and terbium oxide; These are all metals that Western sources now demand.
Yangibana also has a sizeable inventory of neodymium and praseodymium and could even represent a profitable long-term feed source for the Thai plant.
The Kabin Buri processing plant is intended to convert monazite-containing rare earth concentrates into mixed rare earth chloride.
This is a preferred intermediate stage in the downstream separation pathway because the product dissolves efficiently, requires lower reagent consumption, and produces a cleaner feed for subsequent rare earth oxide refining.
Another positive for the Thailand facility’s processing route is that the monazite-containing concentrates are suitable for the type of material that Hastings’ Yangibana project in WA’s north-west will produce.
Hastings Technology Metals CEO Vince Catania said: “This acquisition changes the course for Hastings. By providing an operational-ready hydrometal facility in Thailand, we gain a short-term production hub at a fraction of the cost of building new infrastructure in Australia and provide access to all necessary plant, equipment and operational infrastructure.”
”For shareholders this is a decisive turning point: low capex, low risk and early cash flow.’
Hastings says the grounds underlying the new facility span approximately 80,000 square meters and include four buildings totaling approximately 10,000 square meters.
Hastings aims to commission the plant in the June and September quarters using third-party African monazite concentrate supplied by Enuo, before commencing Phase 1 production with a target of 5000 tonnes of mixed rare earth chloride per annum in the December quarter.
In the longer term, the company is evaluating the potential to expand to 30,000 tonnes per year with the flexibility to process multiple third-party raw materials. This could also include Yangibana concentrate if the joint venture partners consider this a preferable route for Yangibana ore.
Hastings also welcomes Thailand’s low-cost business profile and pro-investment environment. The company plans to apply for Thailand’s “Board of Investment incentive,” which can provide customs duty and VAT exemptions on equipment, as well as corporate income tax exemptions for 8 to 13 years, subject to preliminary approvals.
Thailand’s new move makes even more sense in light of the October 2025 memorandum of understanding between the US and Thailand aimed at strengthening US critical mineral supply chains; It’s a backdrop that could help the country’s – and Hastings’s – desire to move further downwards.
With the initial commissioning raw materials already in place and downside protection in case the deal is not completed being built into the deal, Hastings appears to have found a pragmatic way to track short-term cash flow while keeping its larger Yangibana targets in mind.
Another hard rock rare earth developer, Lindian Resources, also appears to have recently closed a high-priced rare earth hydromete facility, this time in Kazakhstan. Interestingly, Lindian also purchased its facility for US$15 million but says it would cost up to US$500 million to build it from scratch. The market appears to agree, with Lindian’s shares rising from 53c to 93c within ten days of the plant’s acquisition, with its market capitalization now approaching a staggering $1.5bn.
Hastings and Wyloo hold a 21 million tonne ore reserve at Yangibana with a combined rare earth oxide grading of 0.9 per cent. But what sets it apart is its 37 percent content of neodymium and praseodymium, the more lucrative EV magnet rare earth elements.
To put this in perspective, the most respected rare earth processing mine in the world right now is MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine in the US, which has recently attracted almost a billion dollars in investment from the US Government and technology company Apple.
Although it has a higher underground resource grade, the Mountain Pass neodymium and praseodymium content in particular comes in at a much more modest level of 15-16 percent. Hastings says the ore is up to 52 percent neodymium and praseodymium in some places.
If the Kabin Buri factory in Thailand performs as planned, Hastings may soon talk less about future plans and more about the actual products coming out of the port doors, and who knows, it could be a game changer for Yangibana.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
