Australia approves its first integrated rare earths mine, from ore to oxide

The Nolans project, by Arafura, became the country's first venture to cover the entire rare earths chain at a single site — and already has contracts signed with Hyundai, Kia and Siemens Gamesa.

Arafura Rare Earths made the final investment decision on the Nolans project, 135 kilometers from Alice Springs, in Australia's Northern Territory. It's the country's first operation to integrate the entire rare earths chain — from ore mining to neodymium-praseodymium oxide ready to become a magnet — at a single site, with a projected capacity of 4,440 tonnes a year. Construction begins in September 2026.

What sets Nolans apart from a typical rare earths project is that the hardest step in the chain — refining ore into high-purity oxide, historically concentrated almost entirely in China — now exists outside it at commercial scale. That only became viable with direct government support: A$200 million from Australia's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and a letter of support from Export Finance Australia tied to the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. Supply contracts with Hyundai, Kia, Siemens Gamesa and trading house Traxys were already signed before construction began — a sign that industrial buyers are willing to lock in volume outside the Chinese supply chain even paying a premium for being a pioneer supplier.

Rare earths are the least visible bottleneck of the energy transition: wind and electric motors depend on neodymium-praseodymium magnets that today almost all come from Chinese refineries. A project like Nolans changes the risk map for any company that buys these magnets — and shows anyone structuring critical minerals projects that public financing aimed specifically at refining, not just mining, is what actually unlocks a project this complex.