Name of the Project
Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project.

Location
Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths (RBW).

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 project has a total Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource estimate of 30.4-million tonnes at 0.44% total rare-earth oxides contained within two phosphogypsum stacks derived from historical phosphate hard-rock mining.

Rainbow Rare Earths will extract the rare-earth elements using a proprietary continuous ion-exchange and continuous ion-chromatography plant process developed in conjunction with K-Technologies, in the US.

The PEA, published in October 2022, 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). The project will produce all four of the key rare-earth elements used to create permanent magnets (neodymium-praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium) and is believed to have the highest basket price of any rare earths project outside of China of $175.89/kg, while the average processing cost is estimated to be $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 who have the requisite skills and experience for these jobs. RBW will give preference to local contractors and where contractors are imported from other areas, it 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 less than two years.

Capital Expenditure
$295.5-million.

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

Latest Developments
RBW has agreed to issue about 72.45-million shares to raise £7.52-million to further develop its Phalaborwa project and cover the company's financing requirements beyond the first quarter of 2024.

Existing shareholder TechMet contributed £5.54-million, while Pella Ventures – also an existing shareholder – contributed £790 000.

Other investors, including some of Rainbow's board members, contributed £1.18-million.

"This funding will ensure the completion of the pilot plant, de-risking the Phalaborwa project and the Rainbow investment proposition. It is a validation of the company's proprietary separation technology and its strategy to identify other secondary near-term sources of rare earths globally," TechMet chairperson and CEO Brian Menell has said.

TechMet has also been granted the right to nominate one director to Rainbow's board for so long as it holds at least 10% of the company's shares. TechMet operations director Darryll Castle is expected to be appointed to the Rainbow board.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ANSTO Minerals (plant processing testwork); K-Technologies Inc (REO separation technology and partner in the development of plant processing flowsheet; will manage back end of pilot plant at its facility in the US); Mintek (will manage the plant front end in South Africa); and METC Engineering (production of the preliminary economic assessment and engineering work for the DFS).

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