ARAFURA Resources says it phosphoric acid recoveries at its Nolans project in the Northern Territory should exceed 80%, and with prices for phosphate booming this could boost its potential revenue stream from the project to more than half a billion dollars a year.

The company said today test work at the Bateman Litwin plant at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Sydney had indicated the quality and grade of the fertiliser ingredient were better than Arafura’s previous assumptions.

According to Arafura, phosphoric acid of this type is fetching $US1800 per tonne as P2O5 or phosphorus pentoxide, or around $14000/t of contained phosphoric acid.

At these prices, the revenue from the phosphoric acid would be around $US210 million ($A225 million) a year from production of 150,000 tonnes per annum, bringing overall annual revenue from Nolans to $US575 million.

Rare earths remain the key commodity from Nolans, worth around $300 million at today’s prices, with calcium chloride and uranium handy by-product credits for the project.

The company also said the demonstration plant indicated savings in the processing thanks to lower heat being needed in the extraction and washing columns.

The demonstration plant also proved there was no rare earths loss and negligible recovery of other metals, simplifying the downstream uranium extraction, Arafura added.

Arafura managing director Alistair Stephens said the results demonstrated the Nolans recovery process would produce high quality materials, as planned, with rare earth recoveries to start in July.

“Nolans’ phosphoric acid could halve Australia’s need to import phosphoric acid, and a local source would provide benefits for Australia’s farmers,” Stephens added.

Shares in Arafura were last at $1.16 this morning, up 6c this morning after a 7c rise yesterday afternoon.