The Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: ARU) share price is flying higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) rare earths miner closed yesterday trading at 18 cents. In morning trade on Thursday shares are changing hands for 20 cents apiece, up 11.1%.
For some context, the ASX 300 is up 1.1% at this same time.
Investor interest appears to be stoked by another major funding announcement.
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Arafura share price leaps on German funding news
The Arafura share price is soaring after the company announced that the German government has issued conditional approval for up to US$115 million (AU$173 million) in Untied Loan Guarantees from Euler Hermes.
The funds would support debt financing for Arafura's rare earths Nolans Project.
The agreement with Euler Hermes will secure neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) supplies for German-based companies, including Siemens Gamesa. This further sets Arafura up as an important provider of rare earths outside of China.
The miner noted that the approval from Euler Hermes is the final German export credit agency (ECA) approval required to complete its senior debt structure. With this approval, Arafura can finalise its targeted US$775 million senior debt funding for the Nolans Project with commercial lenders.
Arafura must maintain ECA-linked offtake agreements for the term of the loan guarantee.
Commenting on the conditional funding approval sending the Arafura share price soaring today, managing director Darryl Cuzzubbo said, "Today Arafura reached another significant milestone in announcing conditional approval of US$115 million in untied loan guarantees from Euler Hermes."
Cuzzubbo added:
We continue to demonstrate the increasing geostrategic importance of the Nolans Project and developing a diversified global NdPr supply chain, this time by securing German export credit agency support.
This agreement is linked to offtake with German-based companies, including our key customer Siemens Gamesa, who are global leaders in building wind turbines to advance the energy transition.
We look forward to working closely with Euler Hermes as we progress the Nolans Project.
Arafura said it has already completed an extensive legal, technical and financial due diligence program with financiers, adding that offtake discussions with potential counterparties are "well advanced".
Arafura's ore to oxide business model has enabled it to secure high-quality offtake counterparties.
The miner will update the market once the expected binding agreements are entered into.
How has the rare earths miner been tracking?
The Arafura share price has been recovering from a big sell-off in 2023. With today's intraday gains factored in, shares in the ASX rare earths miner are up 17% so far in 2024.
