Mining Intelligence and News
Australia

Dubbo Project

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
Study CompletedPreliminary Economic Assessment
Study in ProgressPrefeasibility
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • REE
  • Neodymium
  • Praseodymium
  • Terbium
  • Dysprosium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Dubbo is a long-term, secure resource of rare earths and critical minerals project with globally significant resource of neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb), and other critical minerals including zirconium, niobium and hafnium.

The Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) mine-to-metals strategy involves mining, separating, and refining resources from the Dubbo Project on-site to produce metal oxides and mixed chlorides. These products will then be processed at ASM's metallisation plants, such as the one in South Korea, or sold directly to global customers.

The Dubbo Project has shifted from a traditional 2021 processing technology using autoclaves to a more economically efficient 2025 heap leach flowsheet. This change, prompted by positive testing, reduced capital and operating expenditures and shortened the construction timeline.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Australian Strategic Materials (Holdings) Ltd (operator) 100 % Direct
Australian Strategic Materials Ltd. 100 % Indirect
The Dubbo project is owned and operated by Australian Strategic Materials Ltd through its wholly owned subsidiary, Australian Strategic Materials (Holdings) Ltd (ASMH).

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Volcanic hosted
  • Intrusion related

Summary:

The Toongi deposit is centred on a trachyte outcrop that forms one of several alkaline volcanic and intrusive bodies of the Jurassic age in the region (formed 190 - 210 million years ago). The elliptical-shaped body has approximate dimensions of 850 m east-west by 550 m north-south. The deposit forms a low irregular topographic rise and has an average depth extent of 115 m below the surface.

The Toongi deposit is predominantly a massive, fine-grained microporphyritic trachyte with more than 80% of the deposit consisting of feldspar, albite and aegirine (in roughly equal amounts). The rest of the rock is made up of opaque minerals. Extensive mineralogical studies have indicated that the minerals contained in the deposit are extremely fine-grained, being less than 100 µm in size (and generally less than 10 µm), and uniformly distributed throughout the rock mass. The bulk of the metals are hosted in complex Na–Ca–Zr–Hf–HREE silicate phases (eudialyte like mineral). The dominant niobium (and tantalum) mineral is close to NaNbO3 (natroniobite) in composition. Separately bastnasite hosts the light rare earth metals.

The deposit contains elevated levels of the metals zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), yttrium (Y) and rare earth elements (REEs) – lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and lutetium (Lu). Refer to Appendix 1 for further detail of the grades in the Measured Resource Estimate. The orebody also holds some uranium and thorium and is classified as weakly radioactive.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. Annual
Total Rare Earth Oxides t 1,097
Terbium Oxide t 11
Dysprosium Oxide t 49
NdPr Oxide t 1,037

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Stripping ratio  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2025 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
C1 cash costs NdPr USD  ....  Subscribe
C1 cash costs Dysprosium USD  ....  Subscribe
C1 cash costs Terbium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price NdPr USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Dysprosium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Terbium USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2025 study / presentation.

Project Costs

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

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 11, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 11, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 11, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 11, 2025

Workforce

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2025
...... Subscription required 2021

Aerial view:

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