ASM receives US$600M Letter of Interest from US EXIM for Dubbo rare earths project
24 March 2024
Australian Strategic Materials announced that it received a non-binding and conditional Letter of Interest (LoI) from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) to provide a debt funding package of up to US$600 million for the construction and execution phase of the rare earths and critical minerals Dubbo Project.
US EXIM’s support is linked to the potential US content (equipment, goods and services) to be supplied in the construction phase of the Dubbo Project and the key strategic role the Dubbo Project can play in the critical minerals supply chain. The LoI is subject to completion of due diligence by US EXIM and ASM obtaining all necessary approvals for the Dubbo Project.
Through the Australia-US Taskforce on Critical Minerals, Australia and the US have continued to strengthen their partnership in the development of secure, sustainable critical mineral supply chains.
US EXIM’s letter of interest for the construction phase of the Dubbo Project follows Export Finance Australia’s (EFA) previous conditional finance support of A$200 million debt funding for the Dubbo Project.
While the LoI is non-binding and conditional, the potential funding support available offered by US EXIM provides a catalyst to increase customer and financing focus in North America. The company will update the market upon reaching a definitive agreement with US EXIM for funding support.
Dubbo. The Dubbo Project is located near the Australian town of Toongi, 25 km south of Dubbo, in central-western New South Wales (NSW). The project site is approximately 400 km northwest of Sydney and Newcastle. Both these major cities connect to Dubbo via road and rail.
The Toongi Deposit is a polymetallic resource. It contains light and heavy rare earths, zirconium, niobium and hafnium. Reserves support an initial project life of 20 years, with potential for a significantly longer mine life.
ASM intends to develop the Dubbo Project to produce metal oxides in the form of chemicals, powders and metals at its Dubbo site. Long-term, the materials produced from the Dubbo Project will be used for refining into critical metals at ASM’s proposed metals plants, the first of which is in South Korea.