Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LON:RBW) produced 279 tonnes of rare earths concentrate from its Gakara project in Burundi during the three months to 31 March.
The grade per tonne of concentrate produced rang in at a huge 62% total rare earth oxides, and the realised price per tonne of concentrate sold was US$2,357.
WATCH: Rainbow Rare Earths on track to ramp up following first full quarter of production
Gakara is one of the highest grade rare earth element mining projects globally, with an estimated in situ grade of between 47% and 67% TREO.
Rainbow Rare Earths remains on track to be producing at a rate of 5,000 tonnes per year by the end of this year, the company said in a statement.
"Following completion of our first full quarter of production we are still on track to ramp up operations to our target of approximately 400 tonnes per month of rare earth concentrate by the end of the calendar year,” said chief executive Martin Eales.
“Going forward this increased productivity will enable us to reduce our production costs per tonne significantly. Furthermore, I'm pleased with the consistent exceptionally high grades of the concentrate produced during these first months of mining at Gakara, which is the only producing rare earths mine in Africa and one of the few outside of China.”
The company has also set drill rigs turning for the first time on the project.
"During this busy quarter we also embarked on our maiden drilling campaign to explore the anomalies identified towards the end on 2017. I look forward to providing initial drill results in the near future," said Eales.