The National Reconstruction Fund Corp has contributed $200 million. Its chair, Martijn Wilder, says \u201crare earth minerals are strategically important resources that are crucial to the global transition to net zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arafura has also secured $840 million in loans, as well as the $200 million from the NRFC, and another $84 million from German state-owned development bank KFW. <\/p>\n
The Australian government even has a $146 million equity investment in the company, via Export Finance Australia, and signed the deal for 14 per cent of the mine\u2019s output.<\/p>\n
It would not be doing this without recognising the importance of net zero, and of Australia securing its own supply chains of critical minerals. <\/p>\n
And as Arafura says, <\/a>without key minerals such as NdPr \u201clong-term deficits in magnet supply could constrain EV and wind turbine production.\u201d It further notes: \u201cNolans is the only new near-term solution to supply chain vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n It seems a little ironic then because Rinehart has complained \u2013 loudly and often \u2013 that wind turbines, along with solar panels, are an eyesore<\/a>, that they deny farmers the opportunity to grow food, and has regularly criticised other companies for \u201csacrificing\u201d their shareholders on the \u201cgreen altar\u201d of net zero.<\/p>\n Rinehart has been a key backer of right wing \u201cthink tanks\u201d such as the Institute of Public Affairs, and now openly supports Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party, both of which relentlessly attack \u201cnet zero\u201d and renewable energy technologies.<\/p>\n Yet Rinehart\u2019s other mining interests have different views, and have had a front row seat on recognising the benefits of green energy, and the advantage of not being held hostage to the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n Rinehart ploughed a reported $1.3 billion into Liontown Resources, a lithium miner also supplying the EV industry that aims to reach net zero by 2034.<\/a> <\/p>\n In the March quarter this year, Liontown powered its Kathleen Valley mining operations (pictured above) with an 80 per cent share of wind and solar, slashing surging diesel costs in the process.<\/p>\n Another of Rinehart\u2019s mining interests, Lynas Rare Earths, which also supplies the green energy industry, went even better at its Mt Weld mining operations and achieved a remarkable 95.7 per cent wind and solar share over the whole March quarter.<\/p>\n The Nolan mine \u2013 and its rare earth oxide manufacturing facility (it will also produce dysprosium and terbium) \u2013 was originally going to be powered by fossil gas via the nearby pipeline, according to the \u201cdefinitive feasibility study\u201d that was published in 2019.<\/p>\n But since then much has changed in the energy world. Gas is still expensive, and the cost of renewables and battery storage in particular have fallen significantly. The company now notes the facility will also feature a \u201chybrid\u201d renewable power station, but has not released details of what is planned.<\/p>\n See: Australia\u2019s richest person says solar panels are an eyesore: Here\u2019s why that matters<\/a><\/p>\n And: Gina Rinehart-backed miner achieves remarkable 95.7 pct renewable share in March quarter, slashing diesel costs<\/a><\/p>\n If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please\u00a0click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you wish to support independent media, and accurate information, please consider making a one off donation or becoming a regular supporter of Renew Economy. Please click here. Your support is invaluable.<\/a><\/p>\n Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy<\/a>, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven<\/a>. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast<\/a>. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s richest person, Gina Rinehart, is a relentless campaigner against net zero and renewable technologies, but the people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,952,128],"class_list":["post-687406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-featured","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779457031_255_a744e55263b8496e46485bfbaa45b4ff7538a517cfd6f6650798459db78775d2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n