WA political veteran Vince Catania takes the reins | Australian Markets

Hastings Technology Metals has handed the chief govt baton to political veteran and company insider Vince Catania as the uncommon earths hopeful eyes a important subsequent chapter to develop its flagship Yangibana project in Western Australia.

The former WA state MP, who joined Hastings in 2023 as common supervisor of company, has stepped up as CEO efficient instantly after spearheading discussions with Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Consolidated Investments that led to the company’s three way partnership (JV) over Yangibana.

There might be no doubt about his political abilities – Catania had a profitable profession in the WA parliament for more than 18 years.

He was elected as a Labor Party member of the higher home in 2005, the place he represented the state’s mining and pastoral area. He then moved to the decrease home in the 2008 election by profitable the enormous regional North West Central seat.

After a spat together with his Labor colleagues, Catania made what might have been a career-ending transfer by switching his political allegiance to the Nationals WA. In the 2013 election, he stood as a Nationals WA candidate for North West Central – and received. He was re-elected in 2017 and again in 2021.

WA’s huge north west voters contains the Yangibana web site and, as its former MP, Catania is no stranger to the land or its challenges. Since becoming a member of Hastings, he has performed a central function in sustaining environmental approvals and building trusted relationships with the area’s conventional house owners.

I sit up for working carefully with Wyloo as we transfer Yangibana additional alongside the construction path and into FID, in addition to working to progress our broader portfolio of belongings together with the Brockman heavy uncommon earths and niobium project and the Whiteheads gold project.

Thanks largely to Catania’s political nous, Hastings carved out its intelligent three way partnership deal with Wyloo, which noticed the company maintain onto a strong 40 per cent stake in the Yangibana uncommon earths project. Wyloo took 60 per cent and has an option to elevate its stake to 70 per cent.

In return for handing over control, Hastings wiped a massive chunk of debt off its books – a good transfer that tightened the company’s stability sheet whereas conserving significant pores and skin in the sport.

Wyloo agreed to forgive $115 million from a ballooning $200M loan, initially issued to Hastings three years in the past to fund its 21.5 per cent stake in Canadian magnet powerhouse Neo Performance Materials.

The remaining $85M was additionally cleared after Hastings transferred its total Neo stake – coincidentally valued at $85M – straight to Wyloo. The firms first teamed up in 2021 when Wyloo fronted $150M by way of an exchangeable loan notice to bankroll the Neo acquisition – a debt that later swelled with curiosity and costs.

Executive chairman Charles Lew stated Catania has been a key asset since approaching board in 2023 and has performed a essential function throughout the business, together with steering the company’s partnership with Wyloo.

Catania’s appointment lands at a pivotal time for Hastings because it closes in on a last investment resolution (FID) for the company’s world-class neodymium-praseodymium uncommon earths and niobium deposit in WA’s Gascoyne area.

Hastings goals to make the totally permitted Yangibana project a main participant in the renewable power and electric vehicle provide chain. With a 20.9-million-tonne ore reserve and plans to course of 1.1Mt yearly over a 17-year mine life, the project will produce 37,000 tonnes each year of uncommon earth concentrates – 27 per cent of that are complete uncommon earth oxides.

Notably, neodymium and praseodymium oxides, that are important for high-performance magnets utilized in inexperienced applied sciences, make up 37 per cent of the combine. Yangibana additionally hosts a 6.7Mt niobium useful resource that would offer a priceless secondary income stream.

Hastings has already sunk $158M into developing the project, with a additional $316M flagged to succeed in manufacturing. The web site is construction-ready, with a 294-room village, 2-kilometre airstrip, entry roads, a bore area and processing plant tools already secured, placing Hastings nicely forward of the pack as the uncommon earths market gathers momentum.

By the time Catania bowed out of politics in 2022, he’d weathered 5 straight elections and easily navigated shifts between events and parliamentary homes – a testomony to his sharp political instincts. It’s that very same savvy he’ll possible lean on as he now climbs the ranks of the ASX company world.

With a high neodymium-praseodymium ratio and a 17-year initial mine life, Hastings and Wyloo look like positioning Yangibana as a cornerstone uncommon earths project for Australia and a key piece in the international provide chain puzzle.

The clock is ticking on construction, and Catania will probably be the man holding the blueprint.

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