Purchase agreement concluded for five years.
Australian mining company Arafura Rare Earths has signed an off-take agreement for rare earths with Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa. Arafura will initially supply 200 metric tons of neodymium-praseodymium annually from 2026, when the Nolans rare earths project in northern Australia is scheduled to start production. The purchase volume will increase to 360 tons in the second year and eventually to 400 in the third to fifth year, according to a press release (PDF). The agreement has a term of five years and can be extended by mutual agreement for a further two years.
The raw material will be used in Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony, for the production of permanent magnets, which are required for offshore wind turbines. For Siemens Gamesa, the cooperation is a way to put its supply of critical materials on a broader footing. Chinese companies dominate both the market for rare earths and their processing and the production of components such as permanent magnets. The high cost of raw materials and logistics is currently causing major problems for the European wind energy industry; in addition to Siemens Gamesa, Vestas and Nordes also reported losses last year.
Photo: iStock/BrianAJackson
