Harena Rare Earths (LSE:HREE) has secured US$4.84 million ($7 million) in funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to advance its flagship Ampasindava project in Madagascar.
The funding will support permitting, environmental and social studies, and a proof-of-concept pilot plant as the London-listed company moves the project towards a feasibility study and a construction decision.
Harena says the agreement represents a “real turning point” for the project’s development, as it is the first direct financial commitment from the US government to Ampasindava.
The investment forms part of Washington’s broader effort to diversify critical minerals supply chains away from China, which dominates the production and processing of many rare earth elements.
“Madagascar fits within that strategy, and we see opportunities throughout the country to increase US and US-aligned investment in the critical mineral sector,” a DFC spokesperson told Reuters.
DFC also indicated the potential for additional support for the project, subject to due diligence and approvals.
Ampasindava is an ionic clay rare earth deposit holding nearly 700 million tonnes of defined resource, containing 606,000 tonnes in total rare earth oxides. The project has an estimated development cost of US$150 million.
Once in operation, it is expected to produce about 4,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides a year, including around 1,700 tonnes of magnet rare earths such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.
The DFC funding is a “powerful endorsement of Ampasindava’s importance as a Western-aligned source of critical magnet rare earths,” Harena Executive Chairman Ivan Murphy says.
Separately, Murphy told Reuters the company has been seeking an exploitation permit and is hoping to secure approval “in the next couple of weeks”.
Harena is targeting first production from Ampasindava by mid-2028, and is currently evaluating rare earth processing options in the US and Europe.
Harena is a rare earths exploration and development company focused on the Ampasindava ionic clay project in Madagascar.
Write to Jackson Chen at Mining.com.au
Image: Anlace, Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 2.5 licence.
