The company has been granted a $22.5 million R&D tax refund from the Federal Government for work it has done on its Nolans rare earths project in the Northern Territory.

The company will make a financial decision on the project by mid next year. It involves mining rare earths in the Northern Territory and shipping them to Whyalla in South Australia for processing and then export. 

The company is also expecting to receive $9.9 million from major shareholder ECE Capital, subject to shareholder and Foreign Investment Review Board approvals.

The R&D tax incentive aims to help businesses offset a portion of their costs relating to eligible research and development."Unique aspects of Arafura's rare earths extraction process, which have been developed over a number of years, continue to be eligible," the company said.

"In 2006 Arafura received a $3.3 million AusIndustry Commercial Ready Grant and since then eligible R&D expenditure has been carried forward as potential future tax offsets."