Its been a while since this JV was discussed and its important that it not be forgotten by shareholders or the market.
The article below (dated 26 November 2019) makes it clear that an announcement of both funding details & offtake arrangements from the rare earths plant - to be built in Hondo, Texas - are due by end February 2020.
Only a week to go folks until we see some real fireworks in Lynas' share price!!!
Lynas close to securing funding for rare earths plant in the US
CeciliaJamasmie | November 26, 2019 | 3:07 am IntelligenceMarketsAsiaAustraliaUSARare Earth
Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp (ASX: LYC) and its United States-based partner Blue Line Corporation are fine-tuning funding plans to build a rare earths plant in Hondo, Texas.
Lynas, which controls just over 10% of the global rare earths market, signed in May a memorandum of understanding with Texas-based Blue Line to set up a rare earths separation facility in the south-central state.
Funding details are expected to beunveiled by the end of February, chairman Mark Harding said at the company’sgeneral meeting held on Tuesday.
“We are in various differentnegotiations with respect to funding and offtake for that plant. We do expectto have more announcements on that sometime in the next two to three months,”chief executive Amanda Lacaze said.
The US has stepped up efforts to ensure the supply of the critical minerals from outside China, which currently accounts for 70% of the world’s production
The facility would be the world’s only large-scale producer of separated medium and heavy rare earth products outside of China, which currently
accounts for 70% of global production. Beijing also controls 90% of a $4 billion global market for materials used in magnets and motors that power phones, wind turbines, electric vehicles and military devices.
Lynas, the only major rare earths producer outside China, currently ships the ore it mines in Western Australia to its processing plant in Malaysia. The facility not only does not have heavy rare earths separating capacity, but also continues to face challenges rooted in concerns expressed by the Malaysian government over low-level radioactive waste produced at the plant.
The company’s six-year-old facility in the country — known as the Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) — has been the cause of ongoing tension between Kuala Lumpur and the Sydney-based miner.
LAMP was the centre of relentless attacks from environmental groups and local residents while under construction in 2012. They feared about the impact the low-level radioactive waste the refinery generates could have on the health of those living nearby, and to the environment.
(20min delay)