The NT Independent is providing an update of resource news from across the Northern Territory. Highlights this week include Rio Tinto financially backing up ERA’s Ranger mine rehabilitation, CuFe Limited benefiting from bigger copper amounts at its Orlando deposit, Astro Resources finding polymetallic at its Central Project, and Arafura Rare Earths getting more financial support from international credit agency.

RIO to back ERA’s Ranger mine’s rehabilitation

Rio Tinto’s chief executive officer for Australia Kellie Parker said the company would be supporting Energy Resources of Australia with a $369 million interim entitlement offer to help fund the rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine until June 2024. T

The cost of the Ranger clean-up bill has ballooned to between $1.6 to $2.2 billion. The Ranger Rehabilitation Trust Fund last November approved a draw-down of $56.8 million by ERA, leaving $481 million in the Trust Fund.

Owning 86.3 per cent of ERA’s shares, Rio Tinto pre-committed to subscribe for its full entitlements under the terms of the offer costing $319 million. The company’s stake could rise to more than 89 per cent at the end of the issue. It also said the funds raised from the IEO will be partly used to repay a $100 million credit facility provided by Rio Tinto to assist ERA with its management of immediate liquidity issues.

The IEO is an interim funding solution for the company, with further funding expected to be required by ERA in 2024 for the balance of the required Ranger rehabilitation expenditure.

“We are committed to ensuring the critical rehabilitation of Ranger is completed to a standard that will establish an environment similar to the adjacent Kakadu National Park,” Ms Parker said.

More Australian and international credit agencies to support Arafura’s Nolans Project

Arafura Rare Earths has received a non-binding letter of in-principle support from German export credit agency Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft for an untied loan guarantee of up to US $600 million to support the Nolans Project in NT.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has also provided a non-binding in-principle support to increase its tranche of project finance from $100 million to $150 million, following its initial letter of support to provide up to $100 million for 15-years in June 2021.

“The Nolans Project closely aligns with global customers’ critical raw material diversification plans and their ESG priorities. Support from Australian and international export credit agencies is a direct reflection of the value this represents. We look forward to closing ongoing relationships with Euler Hermes, EFA and NAIF as we continue to progress offtake negotiations and the project moves through its next critical phases toward full funding, construction and first production,” Arafura Rare Earths chief executive officer Peter Sherrington said.

Astro uncovers polymetallic at its Central Project in NT

Diamond drilling at Astro Resources NL’s Leichhardt East prospect has revealed copper, silver, bismuth and uranium within the Georgina iron oxide copper gold project in NT.

Astro chairman Tony Leibowitz said the pleasing early results hinted that the Leichhardt East prospect may have hit the outer edge of a mineralised IOCG system within Georgina’s central tenement.

“We’re now awaiting the final results from our petrography and magnetism studies, with this data to feed into a detailed review of the central tenement area to help plan next steps and prioritise drill targets,” he said.

CuFe benefits from bigger copper windfall at its Orlando deposit

CuFe Limited has reported a 16 per cent increase in contained copper resources at the Orlando deposit in its Tennant Creek project in NT.

Executive director Mark Hancock said the Orlando resource went up to 2.88 million tonnes, grading at 1.3 per cent copper, and 1.4 grams per tonne gold, or 36,500 tonne of copper and 130,400 ounces of gold, on the back of 2022 resource drilling, while the overall Tennant Creek resource now stood at 7.29 millon tonnes, at 1.7 per cent copper and 0.6g/t gold.

“This 2022 drill program and subsequent resource upgrade have added copper metal tonnes and volume to the Orlando deposit that are spatially favourable and add value by reducing the strip ratio to any open pit cut back development of the existing deposit,” Mr Hancock said.

He said the company was also evaluating its winter fieldwork plans to explore the high prospectivity within its tenements for additional copper and gold resources, closel to the known deposits.