Posting excerpts from today's AFR about Arafura as its...

Posting excerpts from today's AFR about Arafura as its development parallels ILU/NTU's - notably around the scale and nature of governmental assistance. Ignore the reference to +80% price hike yesterday, that's just fun journalism, though I do anticipate a significant re-rating once NTU secures funding. This will depend absolutely on T&C's that apply.

Shares in Arafura Rare Earths soared almost 80 per cent yesterday after the federal government approved a $US533 million ($806 million) debt financing facility to facilitate the mining and processing of critical minerals in the Northern Territory.

The company told investors that it had this month issued requests for loans with a number of banks. It had received interest from Export Development Canada for $US300 million in debt financing, as well as from KEXIM, a major Korean export agency.

Arafura shares rose 11¢, or 77 per cent, yesterday to close at 26¢. That is their highest level since September, giving the company a market capitalisation of $622 million. However, the shares remain about 53 per cent lower than this time last year.The funding package comes as the critical minerals sector reels from a collapse in global prices.

Prices for neodymium and praseodymium crashed to a three-year low in March of $US50 per kilogram. The benchmark price for NdPr was $US139.30 in early 2022.

The US, Australia and other major economies have been working on strategies to reduce their reliance on China, which produces 80 per cent of the world’s separated rare earth oxides. Lynas, another ASX-listed producer, has secured a $US258 million grant from the Defence Department in the US to build a refinery in Texas that would process ‘‘heavy’’ rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium.

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Ash here.

And from the 1H released today, all depends on the DFS - for which no completion date has been announced. Hmmmm.

Ash