A globally significant rare earths producer
The rare earth bearing mineral monazite is a co-product of Iluka’s mineral sands. Since the 1990’s Iluka has strategically stockpiled the monazite produced at its Narngulu Mineral Separation Plant, at its operations at Eneabba, Western Australia. Iluka commissioned a concentrator plant at Eneabba to further process the stockpiled material. This will separate the monazite (and additional zircon), producing a ~90% monazite concentrate material that will provide a direct feed to Iluka’s rare earths refinery.
In April 2022, the Iluka Board approved the Final Investment Decision for a fully integrated rare earths refinery at Eneabba (view the announcement here).
A strategic processing hub
Rare earths are among the key building blocks of an electrified economy. Iluka’s state-of-the-art refinery will enable processing of a range of feedstocks, including those of third party producers. The globally significant refinery will establish Western Australia as a strategic hub for the downstream processing of rare earth resources.
From 2025, Iluka will produce the rare earth oxides neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium and more.
Supported by the Australian Government
Under the Australian Government’s $2 billion Critical Minerals Facility, Iluka has secured a $1.25 billion non-recourse loan for the development of the Eneabba rare earths refinery. The establishment of a risk sharing arrangement with the Australian Government provides a robust platform for Eneabba’s success as a sustainable and globally competitive source of separated rare earth oxides. This support also reflects the Eneabba project’s strong alignment with the Critical Minerals Strategy and significance as Australia’s first fully integrated rare earths refinery.
A multi-decade facility
Beyond the Eneabba stockpile, Iluka holds additional mineral sands deposits that could serve as feed source for the refinery, including the Wimmera project in Victoria. The flexibility of the refinery design will also enable a range of third party deposits to serve as long life rare earth concentrate feed source if required.
Further information can be found on our Engagement Hub
Fluor will collaborate with Iluka to design fundamental aspects of the refinery, including cracking, leaching and purification, solvent extraction and product finishing circuits.
Express your interest in working with Fluor on the Iluka project by completing a company profile here.
Monazite & rare earths
The monazite produced from Iluka’s Eneabba operation contains high value rare earth elements.
Over 80% of the value of the rare earth oxides at Eneabba are derived from neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
Rare earths are essential in a wide range of applications including high performance permanent magnets in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other renewable energy technologies.
Rare earth products