Key Highlights

  • Arafura Rare Earths has appointed Ian Murray as chair, effective at the conclusion of its Annual General Meeting on 22 October 2026.
  • Mark Southey steps down from the board after the meeting, and Cathy Moises becomes audit committee chair.
  • The company said early construction activity has begun at the Nolans project in the Northern Territory following a final Investment decision announced in May 2026.

Arafura Rare Earths Limited (ASX:ARU) has appointed Ian Murray as chair, effective at the conclusion of its annual general meeting on 22 October 2026, while the company said early construction activity has begun at its Nolans rare earths project in the Northern Territory.

Mr Murray succeeds Mark Southey, who steps down from the board immediately after the meeting, as foreshadowed in an announcement on 17 September 2026. Mr Murray has been a non-executive director and audit committee chair since 10 September 2024. Cathy Moises becomes audit committee chair from 22 October 2026.

Arafura describes Mr Murray as having more than 30 years of experience across finance, corporate affairs, project development, mergers and acquisitions and operations in Australia, Africa, Asia Pacific and North America. He was most recently chief executive and managing director of Gold Road. He is a non-executive director of Black Rock Mining and non-executive chair of Jupiter Mines. Managing Director Darryl Cuzzubbo said Mr Murray's experience in taking companies into large-scale operations is valuable for Nolans.

Separately, Catherine Huynh has stepped down as company secretary, citing professional and family commitments, and remains group financial controller. Annaliese Eames, previously chief legal and external affairs officer and company secretary at Australian Strategic Minerals, is appointed general counsel and company secretary immediately after the meeting, and will handle communications with the ASX under Listing Rule 12.6. The company's documents spell her first name in two ways.

Project status at Nolans

In the chair's address, the company said a final investment decision on Nolans was announced in May 2026 and that the project was subsequently declared the first Significant Project under the Northern Territory's Territory Coordinator Act. Construction was scheduled to start in September 2026; in that month, site access works and reinstatement and commissioning of the camp began. A groundbreaking ceremony was held about two weeks before the meeting, attended by the Anmatjere community and Federal and Northern Territory government representatives. The company says the project is expected to operate for at least 38 years.

Funding and government support

The address lists support secured over the past year: a A$200 million investment from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, EUR50 million from the German Raw Materials Fund and US$100 million from Export Finance Australia. It said the Federal Government named Arafura a priority project in October 2025 when it signed the US-Australian Critical Minerals Framework, and that Arafura is the first offtake agreement to be considered under the Australian Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. The address does not set out the conditions attached to these arrangements.

Offtake and strategy

Arafura Rare Earths (ASX:ARU) said more than 80 per cent of nameplate production is committed through term sheets with customers globally. The address does not say whether those term sheets are binding. The company says its move to non-Asian market pricing through strategic offtake agreements challenges opaque pricing mechanisms. It also describes a flexible, scalable process design intended to let Nolans become a processing hub for other Australian rare earths producers, and says studies are continuing on higher recovery and separation of heavy rare earths.

Management said neodymium-praseodymium prices have held above the levels underpinning its Business case, and attributes lower sector valuations to shifting geopolitical attention, which it calls temporary. These are the company's views. The address did not give Capital cost, production volumes, a construction timetable or a first production date.

The address also noted that Nolans is, in the company's words, one of only two ore-to-oxide projects developed outside China in the past 30 years, and said the board and management will lead the company through the next phase of delivery.