Driving efficiency through smarter water treatment

New $550m loan to progress Kathleen Valley lithium project Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR) has entered into a $550m debt facility agreement with a syndicate of international and domestic banks and government credit agencies to fund its Kathleen Valley lithium project through first production and ramp-up to 3mtpa. This comes as the miner announced at the start of this year that the initial commitment of a $760m debt funding package was pulled due to a fall spodumene and lithium prices. The current debt facility provides financial certainty and sufficient time for Liontown to complete the previously announced review of Kathleen...

Printed flexible solar tech now a reality with new CSIRO facility The CSIRO has opened a $6.8m facility in Clayton, Victoria, for its printed flexible solar technology to meet the demand for renewable energy. Unlike traditional silicon solar panels, CSIRO’s flexible solar cells are printed on thin plastic films, making them lightweight, portable and suitable for various applications across urban construction, space, defence, mining, emergency management, disaster relief and wearables. CSIRO executive director, digital, national facilities and collections Professor Elanor Huntington says the cutting-edge CSIRO printed photovoltaic (PV) facility is the newest addition to the organisation’s suite of critical infrastructure enabling industries of tomorrow –...

Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has been awarded grant funding of A$30 million under the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) which will contribute to the construction of an $90.8m rare earth separation plant at its Nolans Project in Australia’s Northern Territory. The A$1.3 billion  MMI forms part of the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Roadmap that aims to develop Australia as a regional resources technology and critical minerals processing hub within 10 years. The MMI continues to build on broad Australian, Territory and export partner government support for Nolans. The grant awarded to Arafura falls under the MMI’s Collaboration Stream, which provides funding to a small number of transformational projects that will create and facilitate collaborative ecosystems. Nolans, 135...

GOLD and copper explorer GBM Resources has announced two milestones for its Milo rare earth elements project in Mt Isa, North West Queensland. A major upgrade of the total rare earth element and yttrium oxides (TREEYO) resource has been completed, and the production of a large concentration of TREEYO through heavy medium separation and metallurgical test work is underway. The Milo project area has grown to more than 1km in length, with the inferred resource increasing to 187 million tonnes containing 113,000t of rare earth oxides. The Milo resource is now 200m wide and contains elements that are considered to be in undersupply, including neodymium and dysprosium. Recent drilling indicated significant results on its northern and southern limits, and confirmed...