Oct 31 (Reuters) - Australia's Hastings Technology

Metals ( HSRMF ) said on Friday its Yangibana joint venture

project in Western Australia has agreed to negotiate for a

potential offtake deal with North American rare-earths

processing company Ucore Rare Metals Inc. ( UURAF )

The Yangibana rare-earths and niobium project is a joint

venture with Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest's Wyloo

Metals, which holds a 60% stake, and rare-earths developer

Hastings, which owns the remaining 40% through its subsidiary,

Yangibana Jubilee.

"The joint evaluation of a downstream Hydromet plant in the

U.S. demonstrates the efforts by Wyloo, Ucore and Hastings to

access the financing and commercial opportunities arising from

the recently announced rare-earths deal by the U.S. and

Australian governments to jointly support "ready to go"

projects," said Hastings CEO Vince Catania.

The potential deal covers up to 37,000 tons a year of

Yangibana's high-grade rare-earth concentrate, while both

parties assess the feasibility of building a downstream

hydrometallurgy plant in Louisiana.

The parties will work towards executing a definitive

agreement, which is expected to be finalised after June 2026,

Hastings said in a statement.

Shares of the Australian rare-earths developer rose as much

as 19.3% to A$0.68, set for their strongest session in more than

a week, if the current momentum persists.