The Minhub Project.
Minhub Operations (Minhub) aims to develop a sovereign collaborative Mineral Separation Plant (MSP) where rare earths minerals monazite and xenotime will be separated from other valuable minerals such as zircon, rutile and ilmenite. Feedstock for the project will be Mineral Sands Concentrates sourced from 3rd Party Rare Earth rich Mineral Sands Projects.
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Minhub is partnering with Arafura Rare Earths Ltd who are developing the Nolans Project, also in the Northern Territory. Together, Minhub and Arafura will have the technical capability to further process high-grade rare-earth minerals monazite and xenotime into Neodymium-Praseodymium oxide (NdPr) and a heavy rare earth rich (SEG-HRE) product which could be further processed to separate Dysprosium and Terbium oxides (DyTb).
Australia is a global powerhouse of mineral sands mining with the world's largest resources of rutile and zircon (Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus, 2022). Australia produces over 25% of global production of those minerals, and close to 10% of global ilmenite. Together with those finished products, Australia produces a significant amount of raw (heavy mineral concentrate 'HMC') and intermediate mineral concentrates containing valuable economic minerals, such as zircon, ilmenite, rutile, and along with globally significant quantities of high grade valuable rare earths minerals monazite & xenotime.
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Over the last 20 years, Australian mineral sands projects have increasingly shipped these raw and intermediate products to Asia where a large downstream mineral processing industry has developed. In China, numerous small and medium sized processors combined with large State supported companies and well-developed policies that encourage the import of concentrate has enabled China to become the dominant global player in zircon processing and titanium pigment manufacture, while also capturing valuable rare earth feedstocks which have helped to consolidate China's position in that sector.
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Today a new generation of Australian mineral sands deposits are being developed, particularly in the rare earth rich Murray and Gippsland Basins of southeastern Australia. The Minhub Project, working closely with downstream processing partner Arafura Rare Earths Ltd, aims to deliver an independent mineral processing hub, strategically located in Darwin a which can act as a collaborative processing option for mineral sands developers and facilitating a sovereign supply chain for critical rare earths.
The Project has been designed working closely with Minhub's industry leading technology partner IHC-Mining incorporating process design that will enable the processing of HMC and intermediate products from several emerging rare earth rich mineral sands projects. The MSP will utilise conventional industry standard physical separation equipment such as gravity separation (wet tables, spirals and classifiers), along with dry mineral separation equipment such as rare earth magnets and electrostatic separators. Finished products from the Project will include rare earth minerals monazite and xenotime as well as zircon and titanium products such as rutile and ilmenite.
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Why Darwin?
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Darwin is the natural site for a mineral processing hub, where high value mineral concentrate from Australia’s southern ports can be processed, offering access to international markets and a unique opportunity to integrate with Arafura's Nolans Project to develop a diversified rare earths processing industry.
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Darwin is an underutilised, deepwater port on the North Australian Coast, connected to substantial rail infrastructure with a significant time saving over shipping from southern ports
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Direct rail access for mineral sands concentrates from southern mineral sands mines and to rare earth processing at Arafura's Nolans Project
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Strong Commonwealth and Territory support to see the NT established as a premier critical minerals processing centre