Name of the Project
Phalaborwa rare earths project.

Location
Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths.

Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has confirmed Phalaborwa's significant potential as a low capital intensity, high-margin, near-term rare earth development project.

The PEA is based on processing 2.2-million tonnes a year of phosphogypsum over a 14.2-year project life to deliver 26 208 t of separated magnet rare-earth oxides (REOs) at an average cost of $33.86/kg.

Potential Job Creation
The project will create numerous employment opportunities during construction and an estimated 300 direct job opportunities, excluding contractors, suppliers, vendors and consultants. Priority will be given to the people in the Ba-Phalaborwa area with the requisite skills and experience for these jobs. Rainbow will give preference to local contractors and where contractors are imported from other areas, Rainbow will encourage the employment of local labour.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $627-million and an internal rate of return of 40%, with a payback of about two years.

Capital Expenditure
$295.5-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Production is expected to start in 2026.

Latest Developments
Rainbow Rare Earths reported in March that considerable progress had been made at the Phalaborwa project in the six months ended December 31, 2022, with the successful publication of the PEA underscoring the project’s “enormous” potential, CEO George Bennett has said.

Rainbow Rare Earths has reported that it is pleased by the headway that the company has made with regard to making plans to implement a continuous pilot plant operation at Phalaborwa to advance the project to definitive feasibility study stage, with key workstreams having successfully started and the pilot plant due to be commissioned in the second quarter.

The project remains on track to reach production in 2026 – five years after initial work began on site in 2021.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ANSTO Minerals (flowsheet process optimisation); and ANSTO Minerals K-Tech (testwork programme).

Contact Details for Project Information
Tavistock Communications, on behalf of Rainbow Rare Earths, tel +44 20 7920 3150 or email rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk.