Lynas Corp. Ltd. said Dec. 9 that it selected a site in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, for a new cracking and leaching plant following the completion of due diligence.

Located near the Australian rare earths producer's Mount Weld mine, the proposed plant will be used to upgrade rare earth concentrate produced from the mine that is currently exported to its Malaysia processing facility.

Lynas has signed an option to sublease an industrial zoned property from the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The development followed a memorandum of understanding with the city to conduct a review and due diligence of potential sites.

The development could help Australia meet a strategy on critical minerals and Western Australia's thrust toward more downstream processing. Further, Lynas will explore opportunities for the next stage processing in Western Australia.