Name of the Project
Phalaborwa rare earths project.

Location
Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths announced the signing of a binding agreement with Bosveld Phosphates for the co-development of the Phalaborwa rare earths project in November 2020.

On completion of a prefeasibility study (PFS), 70% of the project will be held by Rainbow and 30% by Bosveld, with a mechanism included to allow for Rainbow’s joint venture ownership to vary from 60% to 85%, depending on the results of the PFS.

Project Description
Rainbow Rare Earths and Bosveld Phosphates intend to jointly develop and process rare-earth elements from the gypsum contained in two stacks at the project site.

The project comprises an estimated 35-million tonnes of gypsum, resulting from historical phosphate hard-rock mining and containing rare-earth elements, with an estimated average in situ grade of 0.6% total rare-earth oxides (TREOs) for about 210 000 t of TREOs, with neodymium and praseodymium expected to constitute about 30% of the TREOs basket.

The reprocessing of these gypsum stacks carries significant environmental benefits, as it will redeposit clean, benign gypsum, which then has the potential for further use in the building and fertiliser industries.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Rainbow Rare Earths reports that the maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant mineral resource estimate for its Phalaborwa project has an inferred estimate of 38.3-million tonnes at 0.43% total rare earth oxides, which is bigger than the 35-million tonnes initially expected from the gypsum stacks.

The maiden Jorc mineral resource has been estimated based on the assay results received from 1 056.3 m of auger drilling completed in December 2020. 

Rainbow also notes that the economic dysprosium and terbium oxide credits, with an in situ value of $28/t of gypsum, enhance the overall value of the rare earth basket contained in the stacks, with the in situ value of these four high-value, rare-earth elements totalling $123/t of gypsum.

Also, there are low levels of radioactive elements confirmed in the inferred mineral resource estimate, which the company says confirm the “green credentials” of the project.

The rare earths are present in a chemical, rather than a mineral form in the gypsum stacks, consequently removing the need, as with the majority of global rare earth projects, to firstly produce a mineral concentrate before undertaking a complex and energy-intensive cracking process, Rainbow CEO George Bennett has said.

The initial Phalaborwa process will deliver a cracked rare-earth carbonate, and studies are ongoing to investigate whether the rare-earth metals can be delivered as separated rare-earth oxides for direct sale to industrial users.

Alongside the recently announced metallurgical testwork results, which have confirmed that the gypsum stacks are amenable to simple, direct leaching with low-cost sulphuric acid at ambient temperature and pressure, Bennett says the roadmap to commercialising the Phalaborwa deposit is now clear.

Further, metallurgical testwork is ongoing, with Ansto Minerals in Australia to define a preliminary processing flowsheet to support a scoping study and/or preliminary economic assessment for the project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ANSTO Minerals (flowsheet process optimisation).

Contact Details for Project Information
Rainbow Rare Earths CEO George Bennett, cell +27 82 652 8526.