King & Wood Mallesons is delighted to have advised Iluka Resources Limited [ASX:ILU] [Iluka] on its strategic partnership with Northern Minerals Limited [ASX:NTU] [Northern], including a life of mine supply agreement for the supply of rare earths concentrate to Iluka from Northern’s Browns Range Project, and a strategic investment by Iluka in Northern by way of an initial placement and convertible note, with the possibility for additional investment by Iluka under a further placement and reciprocal put and call options (subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions).
The proposed transactions represent an important milestone for Iluka’s rare earths business, as:
- subject to Northern developing its Browns Range Project, Northern’s concentrate will be a valuable additional source of feedstock for Iluka’s Eneabba rare earths refinery in Western Australia and will be a significant contributor to establishing the Eneabba refinery as a long term producer of highly valued heavy, as well as light, permanent magnet REOs; and
- the subscriptions provide Iluka with a pathway to achieve up to a 19.9% shareholding in Northern (subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions).
The proposed transactions build on KWM’s existing role in advising Iluka on the approvals required from the State of Western Australia under Iluka’s State Agreement for the development for the Eneabba refinery.
The KWM deal team was led by Lorenzo Pacitti, Partner and Resources Sector Leader, alongside Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions Partner Antonella Pacitti, Banking & Finance Partner Nathan Collins with the additional expertise from Senior Associates Christopher Barry, Toby Newnes, Peixin Truong and Solicitor Olivia Harle.
Commenting on behalf of the KWM deal team, Antonella Pacitti said:
“We are delighted to have partnered with Iluka and Gresham on this milestone transaction, and to have been able to deliver cross-practice support across the Resources, Corporate and Finance elements of this deal. We look forward to assisting Iluka to establish Eneabba as a strategic hub for the downstream processing of Australia’s rare earth resources, including through the delivery of Australia’s first fully integrated rare earths refinery.”
