![The mineral sands mine between Donald and Minyip has been long in the planning. Picture from Astron Corporation. The mineral sands mine between Donald and Minyip has been long in the planning. Picture from Astron Corporation.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/0c794bb7-9c5b-47f3-8f71-613c11d51fda.jpg/r404_0_2756_1323_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Victoria's mining industry has been set alight with a $183m investment from a big US mining company into a long-established mineral sands project near Donald in the Wimmera.
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Astron Corporation's mineral sands and rare earths project has won the backing of Energy Fuels, the largest uranium producer in the US.
Energy Fuels and Astron have signed a joint venture deal, with the US company taking a 49 per cent share of the mine with its $183m to fund "first phase development".
The agreement also involved a share deal.
There are still more financial hurdles and planning approvals to be approved but the new joint partners in the Donald project are eyeing off 2026 for mining to start.
They plan to mine 7.5 million tonnes of ore per year to produce about 250,000 tonnes per annum of heavy metal concentrate and about 7000 to 8000 tonnes per year of rare earths concentrate for 41 years.
The second phase of mining is expected to see those figures double to 15 million tonnes mined each year to produce between 400,000 and 500,000 tonnes of concentrate and 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes of rare earths concentrate per year.
![Map from Astron Corporation. Map from Astron Corporation.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/bab78744-999d-4e92-84de-089bbc05574a.jpg/r0_0_932_1279_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Under the arrangement, the mine's rare earths would to processed at Energy Fuels' White Mesa Mill in Utah.
Astron Corporation has retained the rights to enter into an offtake agreement for 100pc of the project's heavy minerals concentrate for processing at its mineral separation plant in Yingkou in China.
Donald is located between St Arnaud and Birchip.
The actual Donald deposits, slated to be first mined, are located between Donald and Minyip,.
Astron's mining tenement and resource area encompasses 426 square kilometres.
The land proposed to be used for mining and processing is mostly privately owned and used for cropping and livestock production.
Astron says it now owns several properties both on and off the mining licence area with a total area of 15sq/km.
It first became involved in "acquiring" the Donald mineral sands deposits in 2004.
![The proposed mine's footprint is on cropping country. Picture from Astron Corporation. The proposed mine's footprint is on cropping country. Picture from Astron Corporation.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/305f7075-bed5-47e1-bf94-077e7ed9698c.jpg/r0_356_1536_1655_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Astron's head office is based in Melbourne, and our largest shareholder is a New Zealand family," a company spokesman said earlier in the year.
"In total, Astron has more than 650 public shareholders, of which over 600 are Australians."
A financial investment decision on the mine go-ahead is expected before the end of this year.
Astron Corporation managing director Tiger Brown said:" We look forward to a long and productive relationship with our new partner to collectively bring to life what, in Donald, is one of the world's most significant critical mineral resources and delivering value to our respective security holders and stakeholders."
The company's share price has climbed from about 56 cents per share to about 84 cents in trading today (Thursday).
Interestingly, the share prices of another mineral sands miner, VHM Ltd, has risen from 44 cents to 48 cents in the past few days.
VHM is proposing a similar mineral sands project at Cannie Ridge near Swan Hill.