On the 24th November LYC announced as follows....copied from the...

On the 24th November LYC announced as follows....copied from the announcement

"The key terms of the Agreement include that Lynas and Sojitz will use commercially reasonably endeavours to:
?h Seek a funding package of up to $US250 million to cover the cost of accelerating the expansion of the Lynas Rare Earths project to 22,000 tonnes per annum. Sojitz will request financial support from the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation(JOGMEC) for the expansion of the project.
?h Allocate a minimum of 8,500 tonnes ?? 500 tonnes per annum to the Japanese market overthe next ten years, upon securing this funding.
?h Jointly market Rare Earths products in Japan in order to secure end customers in Japan for 8,500 tonnes ?? 500 tonnes of Rare Earths products per year over the next 10 years to meet the requirements of the customers in Japan."

My understanding of this ann is that it is a simple funding arrangement providing the lender the benefit of security of RE supply.
At the AGM or the phone in (Cant rememeber which - maybe both) in response to a question, Nic seemed to say this was the case.
Translated into simple form it seemed to me like "key money" for Lynas.
I note however we are yet to see the details but I cannot believe that it would include an equity position as I reckon Nic would have to have declared this to the market at the time of the announcement.