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Australia

Donald Project

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Australia

Donald Project

Location: 15 km E from Minyip, Victoria, Australia

Project Contacts:

23 Church Street
Minyip
Victoria, Australia
3392

Contacts:

Additional Resources for Suppliers & Investors

Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
Study CompletedFeasibility
StageFully Permitted
Commodities
  • Heavy Minerals
  • Zircon
  • Titanium
  • REE
  • Ilmenite
  • Monazite
  • Xenotime
  • Rutile
  • Dysprosium
  • Terbium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Dry mining
  • Strip mining (roll-over)
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Donald Project comprises two adjoining deposits, the Donald deposit (MIN5532 and RL2002) and the Jackson deposit (RL2003). The Jackson deposit represents further potential mining and processing opportunities. The Donald Project will produce two products, a heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) and a rare earth element concentrate (REEC).

The Donald Project will form a part of the Joint Venture, in which Energy Fuels has the right to contract up to 100% of REEC production, and Astron has the right to contract up to 100% of the HM concentrate production.

On 23 July 2025, Astron released the updated Donald Project economics for Phase 1 following the receipt of major regulatory approvals in June 2025.

The Project is being developed in two phases. Phase 1 (MIN5532 ) utilises only 17% of total estimated Mineral Resources. Phase 2 (RL2002) involves duplication of the Phase 1 mining and mineral processing operations. Phase 2 is expected to be funded by operating cashflow.
Latest NewsAstron Corporation Limited: Updated Donald Project Economics     July 23, 2025

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Energy Fuels Inc. 3.2 % Indirect
Astron Corporation Ltd. 96.8 % Indirect
Astron established Donald Project Pty Ltd, trading as Donald Mineral Sands (DMS), in a joint venture with Energy Fuels Inc. in June 2024. As part of the joint venture agreement, Astron Mineral Sands Pty Ltd (AMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Astron, manages joint venture activities under a management agreement.

Energy Fuels has the right to earn up to 49% of the joint venture by funding the bulk of Phase 1 project equity. Astron is the joint venture manager and will retain a 51% interest.

The interest-free loan of $8.6 million, provided by Energy Fuels to cover Donald’s development costs from June 4 to September 26, 2024 has been converted into an approximate 3.2 per cent equity in the joint venture.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Mineral sands

Summary:

The Donald deposit is within the Murray Basin, which comprises flat-lying Cenozoic sediments that unconformably overlie Proterozoic and Palaeozoic basement rocks. The mineralisation is contained within the Tertiary aged Loxton Sand, a sequence of marine sands representing a range of environments including deep-water (offshore), near shore, tidal, beach and back dunal sediments.

The Wimmera Industrial Minerals (WIM)-style mineralisation, fine grained heavy mineral deposit within the Parilla Sand.

The Project contains significant rare earth minerals in the form of monazite and xenotime.

The deposit can be described as a Tertiary succession of freshwater, marine, coastal and continental sediments deposited heavy minerals in the area. The deposit consist of a solitary or composite broad, lobate sheet-like body of considerable aerial extent, highly sorted and associated with fine micaceous sand. These deposits are thought to represent accumulations formed below the active wave base in a near shore environment, possibly representing the submarine equivalent of the strand style deposits.

The mineralisation at Donald is contained within the marine sequence of the Loxton Sand. The marine sequence of the Loxton Sand unit can be subdivided into three sub-units:
• LP1 – fine to very coarse friable quartz sands and minor silty, clay and gravel beds representing dunal, foreshore and surf zone sediments;
• LP2 – near-shore, very fine silty micaceous quartz sands, minor clays and gravels, representing sediments deposited below the wave base that show friable laminated and truncated HM mineralised beds. LP2 is the principal fine-grained heavy mineral target throughout the Murray Basin and contains the majority of the mineralisation in the Donald deposit;
• LP3 – represents deep water sedimentation containing higher silt and clay material than LP2.

Within the Donald deposit area, the Loxton Sand is underlain by the Geera Clay. The Geera Clay typically consists of black, grey, green or yellow brown plastic clays, with minor silts and is interpreted to have formed in a shallow water, marginal marine, lagoonal or tidal flat environment.

The Loxton Sand is overlain by the fluvio-deltaic Shepparton Formation which consists of clay and silt.

Dimensions
The mineralization ranges in depth from 1 m to 41 m.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. Annual
Heavy Minerals Concentrate kt 229
Zircon Mineral in concentrate kt 43
REE Concentrate kt 7.2
Ilmenite Mineral in concentrate kt 99
NdPr Metal in concentrate t 900
Dysprosium Metal in concentrate t 92
Terbium Metal in concentrate t 16

Operational metrics

Metrics
Hourly processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
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Stripping ratio  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2025 study.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
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EBITDA (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
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After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

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Workforce

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