Arafura Resources has released a maiden Ore Reserve of 24 million tonnes at 2.8% REO for 672,000 tonnes of contained REO at its wholly-owned Nolans Rare Earths Project.

The Northern Territory project also holds just under 3 million tonnes of phosphorus (P2O5) and 4,900 tonnes of U3O8.

The Ore Reserve represents that part of the Nolans Bore Mineral Resource that can be economically mined by open pit methods.

Based on a maximum beneficiation throughput of 1.1 million tonnes per annum, this supports a mine life of 22 years.

The Ore Reserve is based on Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources estimated for the Nolans Bore deposit by AMC Consultants earlier this year.

With the Ore Reserve and the recent cash inflow of $32.5 million, Arafura is now well placed to bring the Nolans project to commercialisation.

Further upgrades to the Reserve could come from the 21 million tonnes of Inferred Resource that could be converted with further drilling to improve the confidence in these resources.

Large parts of the resource remain open at depth.

Arafura held cash of $44.5 million as of 30 November 2012.