Rainbow Rare Earths Limited (LON:RBW) said activity at its Gakara mine has continued largely unhampered by restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Although foreign travel has been largely suspended into and out of Burundi, goods are now able to pass across road borders, and the latest export of 100 tonnes of concentrate reached the port of Dar es-Salaam unhindered, Rainbow told investors.
Work continues towards the completion of the company's maiden JORC-compliant resource estimate, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, it added. The finalisation of the report has been slightly delayed due to lockdowns affecting testing facilities in South Africa and elsewhere.
“The impact of COVID-19 has been widespread; however, our operations have remained largely unaffected. We have introduced a number of sanitation steps for our workers, and will continue to comply with any in-country restrictions that may be imposed,” George Bennett, the chief executive officer of Rainbow said in a statement.
“Our longer-term priority remains the definition of a maiden JORC resource, and work is nearly completed on the first stage, which we look forward to announcing shortly,” he added.
Meanwhile, the company has announced the appointment of Pete Gardner as its chief financial officer, a non-board position. He will replace Jim Wynn, who is moving to another company.
Gardner was most recently the chief financial officer of Piran Resources in Rwanda.