Highlights
- Australian Rare Earths is expanding rare earth element (REE) mining in South Australia.
- The expansion is facing opposition from local farmers and landowners.
- The Koppamurra project, owned by Australian Rare Earths, contains key rare earth elements crucial for permanent magnets and energy transition.
- Concerns have arisen over potential impacts on agriculture, soil health, and water resources in the region.
- These concerns have led to the formation of local opposition groups.
Rare earth Australian mining player Australian Rare Earths (opens in a new tab) gobbles up land licenses where it can such as in South Australia and Victoria. Such mining ventures increasingly prospect across farmland, scouring for rare earth elements (REEs), part of a national push to reduce reliance on Chinese sources. But proposals for REE mines in the south east of the state of South Australia have generated opposition by local producers, a myriad of small land owners—often agricultural, passed down in some cases from family generation. Some of these small farm owners also are securing leases and oppose bigger companies such as Australian Rare Earths’ presence, a dominant one now given their lease of the major Koppamurra rare earth elements mine.
Reported on recently by ABC News (opens in a new tab) in Australia, small farmer/property owners such as Ken Turner are establishing a protective front, given they have been informed that such elements are vital for the country’s energy transition.
The Turner farm, as well as other properties and forestry plantations in the region occupy an area spanning 20 square kilometers earmarked for one of Australia's first rare earth element mining projects, known as the Australian Rare Earths' Koppamurra project.
What is the Koppamurra project?
The Koppamurra Project (opens in a new tab), which is 100% owned by Australian Rare Earths (AR3) has all four key rare earth elements which are important for the production of rare earth permanent magnets. Koppamurra has a Substantial JORC Resource of 186Mt at 712ppm TREO (Total Rare Earth Oxide) and is a clay hosted deposit.
According to the company website, Koppamurra has immense growth potential. The Resource defined to date is < 5% of the total exploration tenure. The key advantage of Koppamurra is the relatively high total proportion of rare earths used in the production of rare earth permanent magnets (REPMs) which, based on test work to date, have been shown to be relatively easy to recover.
These characteristics of Koppamurra indicate that, as these four rare earths, namely praseodymium, neodymium, terbium and dysprosium, will constitute over 92% of the revenue of the Project’s output, the production process, will be simpler than other projects which may separate all the rare earths contained in other rare earth minerals.
The effort represents part of a wave of efforts to produce the materials needed to contribute to the shift to a decarbonized world.
The Prospecting of the Koppamurra ore deposit in this part of Australia has been led by University of Adelaide Professor Carl Spandler, contracted to investigate the geology of the region. Their work led to research findings published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (opens in a new tab).
It’s the same as it is in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. “Western” nations are ramping up to investigate REE options given the 80% stranglehold China has on the REE production market.
So, Professor Spandler told ABC News "It's not just about the economic value of mining.” Continuing "It's also about Australia being a strategic, secure supplier of these resources that are absolutely fundamental to our future."
"The deposits in SA are a relatively recent find, which wasn't really expected, based on the geology of the area," he said.
Australian Rare Earths represents one of the big firms investigating in the broader region, with 7,000 square kilometers worth of exploration licenses across SA and Victoria.
Managing director Travis Beinke said the company was looking to work with the region's existing industries.
Potential Conflict: REE Mining vs. Local AG and Small Producers
But local opposition intensifies, as this represents one of Australia’s top agricultural zones.
Ken Turner, an owner operator of both a farm and in possession of mining leases, has been approached by Australian Rare Earths to consider mining on his property (which is run by his daughter). Turner went on the record of an ABC News article that “It surprised me when they came along and said they'd found an ore body that may well be viable.”
Then there is Todd Woodard, chair of the just formed Limestone Coast Sustainable Futures Association, a champion for local producers and business leaders. Would the invasion of REE mines disrupt and maybe even ruin an old way in these parts of Australia—cropping, small seed, dairy, and wine? Would the land be irreparably harmed?
"We can't possibly see how it's going to be put back the same," he said. "Getting the macrominerals back in there is one thing, putting the biology back in there is completely different."
Then there is Will Malone’s family situated on what’s called the Wrattonbully property for nearly a century!
A wine grape grower, Malone and his group fret about a mission-critical underground aquifer underlying the area. One that ABC News reports (opens in a new tab) is under stress and over-used.
"Soil and water being the two most important things for us … we're just really concerned about what's being put at risk," he said.
"The discussion's been very open, but a majority of the questions we pose, and [our] concerns, seem to come back with an answer of, 'We don't know.'"
While the big mining company has gone on the record that they have the ability to rehabilitate the local earth in these parts of Australia, some of the agricultural communities aren’t so sure.
Daniel
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