ASM awarded $5 million to progress Dubbo rare earth ambitions

The federal government has announced a $5 million grant to Australian Strategic Materials (ASM), covering up to 50 per cent of a project to identify “alternative, capital efficient and nearer term options” for producing rare earth elements at its Dubbo Project.

The funding announced by resources minister Madeline King (pictured in middle) on Tuesday is through the federal International Partnership in Critical Minerals (IPCM) program.

The project supported is named the RE Options Assessment and Pilot Program. According to a statement from ASM, it will involve “engineering, sampling, metallurgical testing, and a pilot program at ASM’s pilot facility” located at Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) at Lucas Heights, NSW.

“Government support to refine rare earths is important for our sovereign capabilities and will help our trading partners meet their economic, national security and emission reduction commitments,” said King. 

The company added that, additionally, it will be working with international partners to deliver the program of work, with these activities “critical to ASM progressing key funding activities and taking [a] final investment decision on the Dubbo Project which is targeted for the first half of 2026.”

“With this funding, we will be able to undertake important work to identify lower capital and shorter implementation pathways to unlock rare earth production at the Dubbo Project and ensure a focused completion of our final FEED (Front-End Engineering Design),” said Managing Director Rowena Smith.

ASM is developing the Dubbo project — which contains light and heavy rare earths, zirconium, niobium and hafnium — in NSW’s Central West region as well as supplying its company-owned Korean Metals Plant metal refinery with ores sourced from Vietnam.

Picture (left to right) Parkes MP Mark Coulton, King, ASM Chief Operating Officer Chris Jordaan (credit ASM)

Further reading

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