The Donald Project

The Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project (Donald Project) is near Minyip, in the Wimmera region of Victoria, about 300 km north-west of Melbourne.

Discovered in the 1980s, the minerals in this globally significant resource are in demand for their applications in everyday life. Those applications span industries and high-tech applications, including:

• Ceramics
• Paints, tiles, toothpaste, cosmetics
• Biomedicine
• Energy generation
• Aerospace.

With a multigenerational project lifespan, the Donald Project promises long lasting economic and social benefits to the region, including jobs, investment, and growth.

Estimates suggest the project will:

• Increase net gross regional product by $2.2 billion a year
• Create more than 600 jobs
• Boost investment in local communities and infrastructure.

Astron Corporation Limited (Astron) owns the Donald Project, which it will build and operate under subsidiary Donald Project Pty Ltd (DPPL).

Astron recently entered into a joint venture agreement with US-based miner Energy Fuels to develop the Donald Project. To reflect the arrangement, Astron in 2024 changed its operating subsidiary entity from Donald Mineral Sands Pty Ltd (DMS) to DPPL.

Location and composition

The 27 km2 Donald Project tenement is about 15 kms east of Minyip. The land area is currently arable and mixed-use land.

Phase 1 of the project is under Mining Licence MIN5532. DPPL also holds Retention Licences RL2002 and RL2003, which it may develop in future, subject to additional permitting and approvals, engineering, and technical evaluation.

Project history

CRA (now Rio Tinto), explored the Wimmera in the late 1970s looking for coal. It presumed the geology of the Murray Basin would be like the La Trobe Valley and the Gippsland Basin. Instead of coal, CRA discovered vast mineral sands deposits containing titanium, zircon, and rare earth minerals. Of these, only titanium was a well-known commodity with a stable market. So, CRA relinquished the tenements in late 1990 following its merger with Rio Tinto.

In the 2000s, the global trends of urbanisation, and later, electrification, increased the market for zircon and rare earth minerals. Astron acquired the rights to the tenements in 2004. After 20 years, and significant investment (more than $100m over 20 years) in engineering, design, land, water acquisition and environment and heritage studies. Phase 1 of the Donald Project is now on the cusp of development.

We are planning to begin construction in early 2025, and operations in late 2026.