Tronox signs US$32M rare earth study pact with JX Advanced Metals
The partners plan an October 2026 study start and an end-2027 finish before deciding whether to fund Australian and US processing plants.
Ines Halvorsen
A roughly US$32 million study is scheduled to start in October 2026 after Tronox Holdings plc NYSETROX signed a cooperation and investment agreement with JX Advanced Metals Corporation TYO5016 on Sept. 29. Each company expects to bear 50 per cent of the study cost, committing Tronox to feasibility work before either side decides whether to build the processing plants. JX expects the study to finish by the end of 2027, when the partners would have results to assess a possible construction venture.
Shares of NYSETROX closed at US$3.97 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in New York on Sept. 28, before the announcement. Tronox produces titanium dioxide pigment and mines mineral sands containing monazite, a rare-earth-bearing mineral, according to its Sept. 29 release. The agreement gives the producer a partner for processing studies but does not commit either company to a commercial plant.
The study budget covers a definitive feasibility study for a proposed rare earth cracking and leaching plant in Australia and a pre-feasibility study for a proposed oxide refinery in the United States. It also includes development of a US pilot facility intended to make initial quantities of high-purity rare earth oxides. Tronox described combined potential production of up to 10,000 tonnes a year in its Sept. 29 release, without setting a commissioning date.
JX's Sept. 29 notice assigns it nonferrous metals smelting, recycling and high-purity refining expertise. Tronox would bring mineral resources, mineral separation methods and infrastructure at candidate locations. JX says the study will also examine feedstock from third parties, alongside material from Tronox.
"The impact on the Company's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2027 is expected to be minimal," JX said in its Sept. 29 notice.
The Plants Depend on Feasibility Results
Tronox plans to study a cracking plant in Western Australia's Rockingham Industrial Zone, about three kilometres south of its Kwinana pigment plant, where it says the operations could share services. It expects to study a refinery on company-owned land beside its Hamilton, Mississippi, pigment plant. Tronox says that location has existing power, utilities and reagents that could reduce refining costs, though the release provides no commercial construction budget.
The contemplated output includes neodymium and praseodymium as well as dysprosium and terbium, according to Tronox's announcement. The agreement also contemplates joint development of niobium, scandium, zirconium and hafnium from Tronox's resources, without attaching an investment amount to that work.
Tronox said the partners have discussed possible financing with the US Export-Import Bank, Export Finance Australia and Japanese financial institutions. Those discussions are potential sources of construction funding, rather than loan awards in the Sept. 29 announcement. If the engineering work supports technical and commercial viability, the companies will explore a joint venture to fund, build and operate the assets; the 50/50 funding split applies to the current study.
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The next dated step is the scheduled start of the joint study in October 2026, with JX targeting completion by the end of 2027.
