Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF) CEO George Bennett talked with Proactive about the latest resource update at its Phalaborwa project, which now includes yttrium — a rare earth element recently added to China’s export control list.
Bennett noted that yttrium, alongside samarium and gadolinium, is considered a critical mineral by the U.S. government due to its importance in defence and strategic technologies. The inclusion of yttrium in the Phalaborwa model significantly enhances the value proposition of the project, with Bennett stating: “We’re getting very, very good payability levels quoted to us, higher than what we originally had in our feasibility study.”
This update not only improves the financial projections for Phalaborwa but also supports Rainbow’s broader strategy of supplying medium and heavy rare earths outside of China. Bennett shared that there is “heightened interest in offtake for the SEG+ group”, coming from global OEMs and strategic partners in regions including South Korea, Japan, North America, and Europe.
With similar SEG+ profiles expected from its Brazilian project at Uberaba, Rainbow positions itself as a potentially significant contributor to secure global rare earth supply chains.
Proactive: George, very good morning to you. This resource update adds yttrium to the Phalaborwa model — one of the rare earths now under Chinese export controls. How does this strengthen the project’s value proposition and its importance as a near-term, non-Chinese source of strategic rare earths?
George Bennett: Well, as we saw last week, the U.S. government updated its critical minerals list and these rare earths are on their critical minerals list, and they deem to be them the most at risk with Chinese export controls, where they're focusing on these medium and heavy rare earths. More so than the light rare earths — these samarium, gadolinium, and yttrium very importantly, are on that list. And we will be producing in significant quantities in terms of the total requirement out of our project at Phalaborwa.
Proactive: George, you mentioned growing interest in securing supplies of restricted elements like yttrium and gadolinium. What kind of offtake or partnership discussions are you now seeing, and how will it affect the financials of the Phalaborwa Definitive Feasibility Study?
George Bennett: Yeah, it's a good question. We are seeing increased and heightened interest in offtake for the SEG+ group that we are producing in Phalaborwa, and it will be the same for the project in Brazil. But, you know, we’ve seen interest from not only some of the biggest OEMs in the world, but also from strategic offtakers and countries like South Korea, Japan, as well as North America and Europe.
This is very significant for Rainbow. That SEG+ of rare earths is very sought after at the moment and we're getting very, very good payability levels quoted to us — higher than what we originally had in our feasibility study. So these are going to be a nice sweetener to the financials of the project, not only in terms of our payability, but also the fact that yttrium is also regarded as key in defence, which is one of the reasons why the U.S. has put it on the critical minerals list. And as I said, it's going to be a nice sweetener to the financials for the Phalaborwa project because we never included these before now in our previous financial analysis.
Proactive: George, with both Phalaborwa in South Africa and Uberaba in Brazil producing similar SEG+ profiles, how do these projects position Rainbow within the global effort to build secure and sustainable rare earth supply chains outside of China?
George Bennett: It positions us, I believe, very well. Not only are we going to be at the lower end of the cost curve — in fact, we think the lowest end of the cost curve — and one of the highest in terms of the margin curve for both projects. It's going to make us a significant producer of both neodymium and praseodymium, which we know are two of the key elements.
But also the fact that our combined SEG+ group is going to make us one of the larger producers of these heavies outside of China, I think bodes very well for Rainbow as a company. And obviously, it bodes very well for the final financial matrix on both projects, which for Phalaborwa is very good.
Proactive: George, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated with your progress. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.