REG - Rainbow Rare Earths - Technical Report on Phalaborwa Process Flow Sheet

Rainbow Rare EarthsAnnouncement

23/08/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 8338W  Rainbow Rare Earths Limited  23 August 2022

 

23 August 2022

Rainbow Rare Earths Limited

("Rainbow" or "the Company")

LSE: RBW

 

Release of Technical Report on Phalaborwa Processing Flow Sheet

 

Rainbow Rare Earths has released an updated Technical Report on the processing
flowsheet to extract rare earth elements from the phosphogypsum stacks at the
Company's Phalaborwa Project in South Africa ("the flowsheet"), which is
available on the Company's website at
www.rainbowrareearths.com/investors/results-reports-presentations/
(http://www.rainbowrareearths.com/investors/results-reports-presentations/) .

The flowsheet has been developed in parallel with K-Technologies, Inc., USA
("K-Tech") and represents a breakthrough in allowing for the economic
extraction of rare earth elements from phosphogypsum, which has historically
proven to be challenging.

Compared to the initial processing options considered when work commenced, a
number of key enhancements have been made, resulting in significant
anticipated capital and operating cost savings for the Phalaborwa Preliminary
Economic Assessment ("PEA") which is currently being finalised.  As detailed
in the Technical Report, the flowsheet for the PEA will comprise the following
key steps:

·    Phosphogypsum will be reclaimed hydraulically from the existing
stacks and pumped to the processing facility removing soluble impurities prior
to the leach process.

·    A fluoride leach regime will be employed to remove fluoride from the
gypsum stream, allowing rare earth grades in the pregnant leach solution to be
maximised and producing reagents from the fluoride for use elsewhere in the
processing circuit, reducing operating costs.

·    The fluoride leached phosphogypsum progresses to a rare earth counter
current sulphuric acid leach system for the extraction of the target rare
earth elements.  This allows for successful recycling of the various acid
streams to optimise the overall processing costs.

·    A rapid consolidation process for the rare earths in the pregnant
leach solution allows the rare earths to be concentrated with primary impurity
rejection.  This process replaces the originally anticipated nano filtration
system, which significantly improves the overall acid recycling, thereby
reducing operating costs.

·    The rapid consolidation process feeds the downstream continuous ion
exchange and continuous ion chromatography processes to deliver separated rare
earth oxides.  The flow rates to these processes are considerably lower than
anticipated using nano filtration techniques resulting in significant capital
and operating cost savings.

Work is now ongoing to finalise the Phalaborwa PEA, which is expected to be
completed at the end of September / early October 2022.

Rainbow and K-Tech anticipate the potential for wider application of this
innovative processing flowsheet than solely the Phalaborwa Project.  As a
result, Rainbow and K-Tech are jointly applying for international patents.
 Rainbow is in the process of identifying global projects where the
technology could be used to unlock further sources of rare earths from
phosphogypsum.

Rainbow Rare Earths CEO, George Bennett, commented: "We are delighted to
provide technical detail which emphasises the breakthrough that has been
delivered by Rainbow, in conjunction with our partners K-Tech, in delivering a
processing flowsheet to economically extract rare earth elements from
phosphogypsum.

Working alongside our partners at K-Tech we have continually seen
opportunities for refinement and optimisation as the flowsheet has
developed.  We anticipate that this process will continue as we progress from
the PEA to PFS and BFS at Phalaborwa, alongside test work at other
phosphogypsum opportunities, giving scope for both capital and operating cost
reductions from the Phalaborwa PEA.

We believe that this work further demonstrates Rainbow's ability to overcome
the historical technical, environmental, and economic challenges related to
extracting rare earths from phosphogypsum, enabling us to unlock a valuable,
near-term source of permanent magnetic metals required so urgently to drive
the global green energy revolution."

**ENDS**

Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd         Company  George Bennett     +27 82 652 8526

                                          Pete Gardner
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP  Broker   Ewan Leggat        +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

                                          Charlie Bouverat
 Tavistock Communications        PR/IR    Charles Vivian     +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

                                          Tara Vivian-Neal   rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk (mailto:rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk)

 

Notes to Editors:

Rainbow's strategy is to become a globally significant producer of rare earth
metals. NdPr and Dy are vital components of the strongest permanent magnets
used for the motors and turbines driving the green technology revolution.
Analysts are predicting demand for magnet rare earth oxides will grow
substantially over the coming years, driven by increasing adoption of green
technology, pushing the overall market for NdPr and Dy into deficit.

 

The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project, located in South Africa, comprises an
Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 38.3Mt at 0.43% TREO contained within
gypsum tailings stacked in unconsolidated stacks derived from historic
phosphate hard rock mining. High value NdPr oxide represents 29.1% of the
total contained rare earth oxides, with economic Dysprosium and Terbium oxide
credits enhancing the overall value of the rare earth basket in the stacks.
The rare earths are contained in chemical form in the gypsum stacks, which is
expected to allow high-value separated rare earth oxides to be produced with
lower operating costs than a typical rare earth mineral project.

 

The Company's Gakara Project in Burundi has produced one of the highest-grade
rare earth concentrates in the world (typically 54% TREO) through trial mining
operations. The Gakara basket is weighted heavily towards NdPr, which account
for approximately 19.5% of the contained TREO and 85% of the value of the
concentrate. The Gakara project is currently on care and maintenance at the
request of the Government of Burundi.

 

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