TIDMRBW
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/
.
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 George Bennett
Ltd Company Pete Gardner +27 82 652 8526
SP Angel Corporate Ewan Leggat
Finance LLP Broker Charlie Bouverat +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
Tavistock Communications PR/IR Charles Vivian +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
Tara Vivian-Neal 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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END
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