Why have shares in ASX 300 rare earths miner Arafura just been halted?

The Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: ARU) share price is on hold today.

Arafura shares were put on ice before market open today and are worth 30.5 cents a piece. In today’s trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.17%.

Let’s take a look at what this ASX rare earths explorer reported to the market this morning.

Trading halt

Arafura is exploring the neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) rare earths project in the Northern Territory.

In today’s news, Arafura has requested a trading halt pending an announcement.

While the details of this announcement are not certain, Arafura has provided a potential clue in its announcement to the ASX today.

Arafura said the news relates to an “offtake agreement”. The company has requested the trading halt remains until this announcement or the start of trading on 8 November.

Arafura said:

The company is seeking a trading halt pending an announcement to the market regarding execution of a binding offtake agreement (MoU).

Arafura recently presented at a rare earths conference at the Australian National University.

The company said Nolans is the only NdPR project in Australia that plans to “mine and process ore to oxide at a single site”.

The wind turbine and electric vehicle (EV) markets are “competing for NdPR”, according to Arafura.

The company already has MOU’s with Hyundai Motor Corporation and GE Renewable Energy.

Arafura share price snapshot

The Arafura share price has surged almost 36% in the past year, while it has leapt 45% year to date.

In the past month, Arafura shares slipped 1.61%.

This ASX 300 rare earths has a market capitalisation of about $526.9 million based on the current share price.

The post Why have shares in ASX 300 rare earths miner Arafura just been halted? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

(function() {
function setButtonColorDefaults(param, property, defaultValue) {
if( !param || !param.includes(‘#’)) {
var button = document.getElementsByClassName(“pitch-snippet”)[0].getElementsByClassName(“pitch-button”)[0];
button.style[property] = defaultValue;
}
}

setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘background’, ‘#5FA85D’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#0095C8”, ‘border-color’, ‘#43A24A’);
setButtonColorDefaults(“#fff”, ‘color’, ‘#fff’);
})()

More reading

• Could this news be helping the Sayona share price light up today?
• Why is the Arafura share price sliding 6% on Friday?
• Why is the Arafura share price falling in a hole today?

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

from The Motley Fool Australia https://ift.tt/yKSxjm5