Browns Range Project

Browns Range Project

Team Members

Browns Range Project Overview

Northern Mineral’s strategic objective is to develop Browns Range and focus on being a producer of Dysprosium & Terbium, which are critical to high performance magnet production

Key Details

Location c.160km south-east of Halls Creek on the northern edge of the Tanami Desert in Western Australia
Ownership 100% Northern Minerals Ltd
Stage Updated DFS due Q4 2023. Previous DFS completed in Mar-15 for production of a rare earth carbonate (1)
Mining Open pit, transitioning to underground mining beneath the Wolverine pit
Processing Conventional beneficiation producing a c.25% TREO concentrate
LOM 8+ years
Capex A$500m order of magnitude estimate, excluding financing costs
Power Examining off-grid renewable power solutions
Other non-process infrastructure Existing near mine infrastructure in place, including access to camp and roads
Design underway / complete for:
On-site airstrip upgrade
Tailings storage facility
Access road / earthworks
Accom. village and associated buildings
Inbound / outbound cargo logistics
Surface water management and water supply system

Appendix A: Mineral Resource

Global Mineral Resource Estimate (October 2022)1,2

1. Rounding may cause some computational discrepancies (TREO (metal) tonnes estimated from Mt x TREO%)

TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides - La2O3, CeO2, Pr6011, Nd2O3, SM203, Eu203, Gd2O3, Tb407, Dy203, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm203, Yb2O3, Lu2O3, Y203;

HREO = Heavy Rare Earth Oxides - Total of Sm203, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb407, Dy203, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3, Lu2O3, Y203

HREO% = HREO/TREO*100

2. Mineral Resource based on the Company's ASX announcement titled "Updated Wolverine Mineral Resource estimate at Browns Range" dated 10 October 2022, which is available to view at www.asx.com.au under the code "NTU".

Moving Wolverine Towards Production

Strategic objective to bring the Wolverine deposit into production and focus on being a producer of Dysprosium & Terbium

Browns Range Pilot Plant Ore Sorter

Highly experienced team delivering the DFS, leveraging the work undertaken in the 2015 DFS, with a focus on:

  • Assessing mining design and costs of the revised underground mining method (sub level retreat)
  • Inclusion of an ore sorter to increase product grade and de-risk mining dilution – demonstrated 60% improvement in ore sorter product grade from pilot plant operation
  • Construction of a commercial scale concentrate beneficiation plant

Indicative timeline:

  • Update of DFS – commenced 2022
  • ICompletion – expected Q4 2023
  • Wolverine Project FID – targeting 1H CY 2024
  • First production – targeting 2026 (subject to receipt of customary approvals and obtaining project funding)

Browns Range Project further de-risked

  • With long term supply and funding agreements with Iluka
  • Avoids construction of capex intensive downstream processing plant while maintaining exposure to Rare Earth Oxides (“REO”) price upside through the terms of the Iluka Supply Agreement
Iluka Supply Agreement

Binding supply agreement with Iluka for 100% of planned production over the initial life of mine to feed the Eneabba Rare Earths Refinery

Supply Agreement

  • NTU to produce Xenotime concentrate from its Browns Range Project and sell to Iluka for use in its Eneabba Refinery
  • Proposed annual production to be delivered to Iluka initially not greater than 5,500 tonnes of contained TREO in Product and 30,500 tonnes in total
  • Pricing of the concentrate includes a fixed price component based on contained REO and an upside price sharing mechanism based on Eneabba Refinery realised selling price and adjusts for impurities.
  • NTU must sell and deliver to Iluka, and Iluka must purchase and take, 100% of the product that is produced from NTU in each year within the agreed bands
  • The Iluka Supply Agreement provides Iluka with a right of first refusal in respect of Product from the Browns Range Project in excess of the maximum annual amount
  • NTU free to sell excess production to third parties if Iluka does not purchase pursuant to its ROFR

Geology

Northern Minerals assets sit within a uniquely Dy and Tb rich mineral setting in the Kimberley with its structural geology and minerology well understood

Overview

  • Browns Range holds a Mineral Resource Estimate of 10.81 Mt @ 0.76% Total Rare Earth Oxides (“TREO”), with the Wolverine deposit accounting for 6.44 Mt @ 0.96% TREO, comprising 61,492 tonnes of TREO1
  • The Wolverine Mineral Resource estimate will form the basis of the forthcoming DFS update
  • The Wolverine deposit is the largest known within the Browns Range system and the style of mineralisation is xenotime hydrothermal breccia, a rare earths hosting mineral particularly rich in heavy rare earths
  • The Wolverine, Gambit West, Gambit and Area 5 deposits are all within the Browns Range Project area, located wholly inside the granted mining lease M80/627 in Western Australia, with the Company also owning separate tenements nearby in the Northern Territory
  • Northern Minerals previously estimated an Ore Reserve at Wolverine however significant refinements to the Mineral Resource model in 2022 meant the Ore Reserve was no longer appropriate for the latest Resource model2. The technical studies to support a Reserve at Wolverine are the subject of the updated DFS due in Q4 2023
  • The strong geological potential at Browns Range and surrounding tenements means the Company has an ambition to grow mine life beyond 20 years

1 – Mineral Resource based on the Company’s ASX announcement titled “Updated Wolverine Mineral Resource estimate at Browns Range” dated 10 October 2022, which is available to view at www.asx.com.au under the code “NTU”. See Appendix A of this Presentation for further information.

2 – For further information, see the Company’s ASX announcement titled “Updated Wolverine Mineral Resource estimate at Browns Range” dated 10 October 2022, which is available to view at www.asx.com.au under the code “NTU”.

Mining

Commencing with open pit, transition to Sub Level Retreat (SLR)

Mining Overview

  • Wolverine will be mined via both open pit and underground methods, for 8+ years1
  • A box-cut and decline will commence concurrently with the open pit, to ensure underground ore is ready for extraction upon completion of the pit.
  • Underground mining will be via sub-level retreat (“SLR”) caving.
  • Cave flow modelling by Beck Engineering
  • Extensive geotechnical testwork and coverage
  • Leading Perth-based mining consultant Entech Pty Ltd, has been engaged to carry out the mining studies.

1. The Company refers to its ASX announcement titled “NTU – Company Presentation” dated 11 July 2023, which is available to view at www.asx.com.au under the code “NTU”. Slide 10 of that announcement contained the following statement: “Mining production rate 910,000 t / year for 8+ years”. The Company confirms that this statement was included in the announcement in error, withdraws the statement, and confirms that the statement should have read: “Wolverine will be mined via both open pit and underground methods, for 8+ years”.

Processing

Beneficiation of ore from the Wolverine deposit producing a xenotime concentrate for supply to Iluka’s rare earth refinery at Eneabba

Processing Overview

  • Processing flowsheet is a well-understood beneficiation process that will produce a c.25% TREO xenotime concentrate rich in Dy and Tb.
  • Flowsheet design informed by three years of processing ore through a large-scale pilot plant, producing 281t of rare earths carbonate from 1,140t of xenotime concentrate to date.
  • Partnering with an external hydrometallurgical and separation plant for the xenotime concentrate, such as Iluka’s Eneabba refinery, represents an accelerated, lower cost, and lower risk approach compared to Northern Minerals also developing a hydrometallurgical circuit to produce a more refined intermediate product, such as a carbonate or oxide.
  • Northern Minerals is currently undertaking a dual-party Early Contractor Involvement process with the intention of signing an EPC contract for the delivery of the beneficiation process plant, with the preferred contractor anticipated to be selected in Q4 2023.
Mine Operations
& Proposed Layout

Pilot Plant operations enabled establishment of key base operational requirements that will be expanded

  • Airstrip, offices and a worker’s village
  • Gravel access roads to the mine and around the mine site
  • Power supply come from diesel generators, solar panels and possibly wind turbines
  • Water supply from a bore-field in Gardiner Sandstone
  • Tailings storage facility
  • Inert and putrescible landfill facility on site
  • Village Waste Water Treatment Plant and spray field
  • Water management structures
Clear Pathway to Production

Northern Minerals has conducted a strategic review of the business led by Executive Chair, Nick Curtis, and has mapped a clear path forward to production

Company Timeline

Regulatory Approvals Summary

Northern Minerals has achieved all primary approvals required to progress through FID