Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF, FRA:RR1) has appointed James Beams as an executive director with immediate effect, as the London-listed company shifts from feasibility work towards building its two rare earth projects.
It was one of two senior appointments announced in an update on Wednesday.
Beams, 62, will take responsibility for offtake negotiations, project finance and material contracts.
He spent 14 years at Anglo American, the diversified miner, where he served as chief financial officer of its Chilean copper business and head of business development for base metals.
He is currently a non-executive director of Trinity Metals, a tin and tungsten producer that ranks among Rwanda's largest private sector employers.
Rainbow disclosed that Beams was formerly chief executive and later non-executive chairman of North River Resources, which was placed into administration in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
The company also named Brent Holme as environment, social and sustainability manager, joining from engineering consultancy Hatch, where he led environment and sustainability work across Africa.
Holme said his immediate focus would be completing the environmental and social impact assessment for Phalaborwa and steering the project through permitting.
Rainbow is developing Phalaborwa in South Africa, which aims to extract rare earths from phosphogypsum stacks left behind by decades of fertiliser production, alongside the Uberaba project in Brazil, held with fertiliser group Mosaic.
Rare earths are used in the permanent magnets that drive electric vehicle motors and wind turbines, a supply chain currently dominated by China.
George Bennett, chief executive, said the hires came at a pivotal point as both projects advance towards development.
