Japan’s Marubeni Corporation announced on Monday (November 10) that it has signed an agreement to invest in a key mining project led by Australia’s RZ Resources company. The project aims to develop a mineral sands mine in New South Wales and upgrade an existing processing plant in Brisbane, Queensland.
Another Japanese company, JX Advanced Metals Corporation, which specializes in producing advanced materials for chips and telecommunications components made of copper and rare metals, reached a similar agreement with RZ in June this year, becoming a strategic partner for the project.
The agreement includes options for future equity participation and partial marketing rights. Marubeni Corporation will invest 15 million Australian dollars (approximately 9.75 million US dollars) to acquire up to 5% equity in RZ’s Copi mineral sands project in New South Wales, as well as certain marketing rights, subject to the feasibility of the project being confirmed.
RZ, which owns the Copi mining project and the mineral separation processing plant in Brisbane, Queensland, plans to produce heavy mineral sands products such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and monazite. These minerals are widely used in industries such as aerospace, defense, and permanent magnets.
The demand for rare earths continues to increase due to the steady growth of the aerospace and defense industries, primarily because of their application in permanent magnets. Japan relies heavily on imports for almost all key minerals and rare earths. With the issue of highly concentrated supply chains, diversifying the supply chain and ensuring the security of critical mineral supply chains outside of China have become urgent priorities.
Marubeni Corporation stated in a press release that Marubeni, RZ, and JX will collaboratively develop the Copi mining project, upgrade RZ’s mineral separation plant, and enhance RZ’s final feasibility study and environmental impact assessment.
It is reported that the project has received a letter of financing support intention from the US Export-Import Bank, as well as a non-binding conditional support letter from an Australian export financing institution.
This article is based on reports from Reuters.