Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF, FRA:RR1), the LSE-listed company recovering rare earth elements from industrial waste, has raised £11.1 million through a share subscription.
The investment round is backed by strategic investors, including Traxys Group, one of the largest rare earth traders in the West and a partner to a $12 billion US government critical minerals stockpile fund.
The fundraising saw Rainbow issue 55.4 million new shares at 20p each, a 6.5% discount to the 21.4p closing price on 30 March 2026.
Investors include two US-based single-family offices and Traxys, which is among the suppliers servicing Project Vault, the US government's strategic fund established to build a domestic critical minerals reserve.
The proceeds will fund Rainbow's operations beyond the end of the second quarter of 2027, covering the completion of a definitive feasibility study for its flagship Phalaborwa project in South Africa during 2026, as well as a pre-feasibility study for its Uberaba project in Brazil in 2027.
Chief executive George Bennett said the involvement of Traxys "underpins Rainbow's strategy to supply critical minerals to the US market" and that all investors "see the value of investing in Rainbow and support the Company's vision to become one of the highest margin and lowest cost producers of rare earths."
Rainbow's approach centres on extracting rare earth elements from phosphogypsum, a waste byproduct of phosphoric acid production, a process the company argues reduces the cost and capital intensity associated with conventional rare earth mining.
The Phalaborwa project has produced a high-grade mixed rare earth product from a large-scale pilot plant in Johannesburg, with an interim economic study published in December 2024 putting the project's post-tax net present value at US$611 million and its internal rate of return at 38%.
A separate economic assessment for the Uberaba project, published in March 2026, estimated a post-tax NPV of US$916 million and an IRR of 45% over a 30-year project life.
Rainbow also reported that neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) prices, key inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines, roughly doubled over the six months to December 2025, rising from around $60 per kilogram to approximately $110 per kilogram.
In a separate announcement, Rainbow reported an interim loss of £1.92 million for the six months ended December 31.