REG - Rainbow Rare Earths - Pilot Plant Producing Commercial Mixed REE Product

Rainbow Rare EarthsAnnouncement

09/02/2026 07:00

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RNS Number : 2156S  Rainbow Rare Earths Limited  09 February 2026

9 February 2026

Rainbow Rare Earths Limited

("Rainbow" or "the Company")

LSE: RBW

 

Phalaborwa Large-Scale Pilot Plant Performing as Expected

and Producing a Commercial Mixed REE Product

 

Rainbow Rare Earths is pleased to announce that its large-scale pilot plant
recently commissioned in Johannesburg is operating the optimised Phalaborwa
primary flowsheet in line with expectations and has successfully produced ca.2
kg of a high-grade mixed rare earth hydroxide, which is a commercial product.

As previously announced, the mixed rare earth product produced by the primary
flowsheet is higher-grade than the industry norm, being ca. 55% TREO, versus
the Chinese specifications for a mixed rare earth carbonate at ca. 42 to 44%
TREO.

The production of this high-grade product has been confirmed as an ideal feed
stream into the planned solvent extraction ("SX") separation circuit in order
to produce NdPr oxide and a SEG+ product that is rich in medium and heavy REE,
each at +99.5% purity. By delivering these separated products, Rainbow intends
to capture more of the value chain by going further downstream than many REE
projects.

George Bennett, CEO, commented:

"This is an important de-risking event for the project, as the large-scale
pilot plant is performing as expected and will now produce increasing
quantities of the high-grade mixed REE hydroxide. The high purity of this
product positions it as an ideal feed stream for the planned SX separation
process in order to produce the NdPr oxide and SEG+ products of the desired
+99.5% purity."

 

Pictures of the mixed REE hydroxide can be viewed at
https://www.rainbowrareearths.com/news-media/media/
(https://www.rainbowrareearths.com/news-media/media/) .

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd   Company  George Bennett         +27 (0) 82 652 8526

                                    Pete Gardner
                           IR       Cathy Malins           +44 (0) 7876 796 629

                                                           cathym@rainbowrareearths.com (mailto:cathym@rainbowrareearths.com)
 Tavistock Communications  PR/IR    Charles Vivian         +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

                                    Eliza Logan            rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk (mailto:rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk)
 Berenberg                 Broker   Matthew Armitt         +44 (0) 20 3207 7800

                                    Jennifer Lee

 Stifel                    Broker   Ashton Clanfield       +44 (0) 20 7710 7600

                                    Varun Talwar

 

Notes to Editors:

 

About Rainbow:

Rainbow Rare Earths aims to be a forerunner in the establishment of an
independent and ethical supply chain of the rare earth elements that are
driving the green energy transition. It is doing this successfully via
pioneering the first commercial recovery of rare earth elements from
phosphogypsum that occurs as the by-product of phosphoric acid production.
These projects eliminate the cost and risk of typical rare earth projects,
which involve mining and the production of a rare earth concentrate that must
be chemically cracked to form a mixed rare earth carbonate before further
downstream processing. As such, Rainbow's projects can be brought into
production quicker and at a lower cost than traditional hard rock mining
projects.

The Company is focused on the development of the Phalaborwa Project in South
Africa and the earlier stage Uberaba Project in Brazil. Rainbow's process will
deliver separated rare earth oxides through a single hydrometallurgical plant
on site, with a focus on the recovery of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium
and terbium. These are critical components of the high-performance permanent
magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, defence and exciting new
markets such as robotics and advanced air mobility.

The Phalaborwa updated interim economic study released in December 2024 has
confirmed strong base line economics for the project, which has a base case
NPV(10) of US$611 million. Given Phalaborwa is a chemical processing
operation, with its resource sitting at surface in a chemically cracked form,
it has a much lower operating cost than traditional rare earth mining
projects, and it is therefore estimated to be one of the highest margin rare
earth projects in development today.

More information is available at www.rainbowrareearths.com
(http://www.rainbowrareearths.com/) or by visiting the Rainbow Rare Earths
Curation Showcase at: Curation Connect - Rainbow Rare Earths Showcase
(https://app.curationconnect.com/company/Rainbow-Rare-Earths-90903?utm_source=media&utm_campaign=media&utm_id=media)
or https://app.curationconnect.com/company/Rainbow-Rare-Earths-90903
(https://app.curationconnect.com/company/Rainbow-Rare-Earths-90903)

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