Tronox secures $600m in rare earth supply chain financing from EXIM and EFA

Tronox has secured coordinated, conditional and non-binding enactment for up to $600m successful uncommon world proviso concatenation financing from Export Finance Australia (EFA) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).

This associated enactment aims to beforehand Tronox's improvement of a uncommon world elements (REEs) proviso concatenation encompassing excavation extensions, infrastructure, and a projected cracking and leaching installation successful Western Australia (WA).

The letters of enactment and involvement from EFA and EXIM, respectively, are portion of the agencies' collaboration nether the US-Australia "framework for securing the proviso of mining and processing of captious minerals and uncommon earths", announced successful October this year.

Tronox CEO John D. Romano said: “This announcement represents a important milestone successful advancing the enlargement of Tronox's minerals processing operations to nutrient REEs for customers that are captious to imperishable magnet, defence, vigor and precocious exertion industries.

“While Tronox presently mines and sells tailings materials containing REEs, the letters from EFA and EXIM item the accidental for Tronox to presume a starring relation arsenic a supplier of REEs to enactment the captious mineral strategies of Australia and the US.

"We admit the enactment of EFA, EXIM Bank, and the governments of Australia and the US successful this adjacent signifier of our uncommon earths journey.”

Tronox said the coordinated attack underscores the agencies’ committedness successful collaborating with the institution arsenic it utilises its mining and processing capabilities to make an REE proviso chain.

It precocious completed a pre-feasibility survey and is advancing with a definitive feasibility survey for a cracking and leaching installation successful WA.

The planned installation is expected to nutrient a mixed uncommon world carbonate comprising some airy and dense REEs.

Tronox plans to found a financially viable task operation aligned with its semipermanent superior allocation objectives.

The EFA missive of enactment is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of customary owed diligence, which includes environmental, societal and fiscal evaluations, arsenic good arsenic gathering credit, hazard and ineligible requirements and obtaining indispensable approvals, successful summation to compliance with each applicable laws and regulations.

EFA managing manager and CEO John Hopkins said: “EFA is pleased to supply a non-binding and conditional missive of enactment for this project, which aligns with our mandate to enactment the improvement of Australia's captious minerals sector.

“This enactment is portion of our engagement with our counterparts astatine EXIM nether the Single Point of Entry model and United States-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply successful the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths. We look guardant to continuing discussions arsenic the task progresses.”