26 February 2024
Rainbow Rare Earths
Limited
("Rainbow" or "the Company")
LSE: RBW
Updated Bulk Density
Calculations increase Phalaborwa Resource tonnage by ca.
16%
·
Bulk density estimate for
the Phalaborwa Resource has been confirmed by a drilling campaign
to increase with depth
·
This has resulted in a
significant increase of ca. 16% in the Resource tonnes from 30.4 Mt
to 35.1 Mt, extending the operating life by over two
years
News
Release
Rainbow Rare Earths is pleased to announce that
updated bulk density estimates for the Phalaborwa Resource has
confirmed a ca. 16% increase in overall expected tonnages. This
should lead to an increase in the project life from the current 14
years in the Preliminary Economic Assessment by over two
years.
As previously announced, Rainbow's technical
team has been focused on evaluation of the density at
depth of the two phosphogypsum stacks that make up the Resource at
the Phalaborwa rare earth development project in South
Africa.
To this end, the Company has been advised by
US-based global gypsum experts Ardaman and Associates, Inc., a
Tetra Tech Company ("Ardaman"), who have been tasked with the
design of the new gypsum stack for the ongoing Definitive
Feasibility Study at Phalaborwa. Ardaman gave Rainbow a revised
drilling technique for the current gypsum stacks based on their
experience of over 100 gypsum stacks worldwide, and it was expected
that the in-situ dry density for the stacks would increase at depth
compared to the conservative bulk density estimate of 1.2
t/m3 used in the Phalaborwa Mineral Resource
Estimate.
A drilling campaign was carried out at
Phalaborwa in H2 FY 2023 to provide representative samples from the
stacks and samples from this campaign were submitted to Ardaman for
comprehensive bulk density testing at their laboratory in Orlando,
USA. Ardaman has provided the results of these tests, which reveal
a clear corelation of higher bulk density with increasing depth as
shown in the graphics at the end of this announcement.
The increased bulk density reported by Ardaman
has resulted in a significant increase of ca. 16% in the Resource
tonnes from 30.4 Mt to 35.1 Mt, extending the operating life by
over two years.
Samples from the drill campaign will now be
assayed for grade by SGS in South Africa in order to allow for an
updated JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimate. This work is also
expected to upgrade the Inferred Resources to the Measured and
Indicated categories.
George
Bennett, CEO of Rainbow, commented: "The improvement in the Resource tonnage at Phalaborwa is
extremely positive. While we await the assay results and the JORC
compliant Resource classification upgrade, it is clear that the
growth in tonnages will lead to an increase in the life of the
project by over two years in due course."
Bulk Density
Calculations for Phalaborwa Stack A and Stack B
For further
information, please contact:
Rainbow Rare
Earths Ltd
|
Company
|
George Bennett
Pete Gardner
|
+27 82 652 8526
|
|
IR
|
Cathy Malins
|
+44 7876 796 629
cathym@rainbowrareearths.com
|
Berenberg
|
Broker
|
Matthew Armitt
Jennifer Lee
|
+44 (0) 20 3207 7800
|
Stifel
|
Broker
|
Ashton Clanfield
Varun Talwar
|
+44 20 7710 7600
|
Tavistock
Communications
|
PR/IR
|
Charles Vivian
Tara Vivian-Neal
|
+44 (0) 20 7920 3150
rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk
|
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 the identification and
development of secondary rare earth deposits that can be brought
into production quicker and at a lower cost than traditional hard
rock mining projects, with a focus on the permanent magnet rare
earth elements neodymium and praseodymium, dysprosium and
terbium.
The Company is focused on the development of
the Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project in South Africa and
the earlier stage Uberaba Project in Brazil. Both projects entail
the recovery of rare earths from phosphogypsum stacks that occur as
the by-product of phosphoric acid production, with the original
source rock for both deposits being a hardrock carbonatite.
Rainbow intends to use a
proprietary separation technique developed by and in conjunction
with its partner K-Technologies, Inc., which
simplifies the process of producing separated rare earth oxides
(versus traditional solvent extraction), leading to cost and
environmental benefits.
The Phalaborwa Preliminary Economic Assessment
has confirmed strong base line economics for the project, which has
a base case NPV10 of US$627 million[1], an average EBITDA operating margin of 75% and a
payback period of < two years. Pilot plant operations commenced
in 2023, with the project expected to reach commercial production
in 2026, just five years after work began on the project by
Rainbow.
More information is available at
www.rainbowrareearths.com.