Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF) said it entered it an agreement with OCP SA, a Moroccan state-owned producer of phosphate products, and a Moroccan university to further investigate and develop the best technique for extracting rare earth elements from phosphogypsum and then processing them into separated elements.
Phosphogypsum contains rare earths as a by-product of phosphoric acid production.
OCP, a global leader in the fertilizer industry, and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) are experts in the field of phosphogypsum processing. Together with Rainbow Rare Earths they plan to work on the development of pilot and industrial-scale extraction of rare earths from phosphogypsum.
"We are delighted to enter this agreement with such innovative partners and believe their significant knowledge of phosphogypsum processing fits well with our own technical expertise in rare earths processing,” said Rainbow Rare Earths chief executive George Bennett.
Rainbow is looking to become a significant producer of rare earth metals such as neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr).
“The successful global transition to clean energy is reliant on a considerable increase in supply of critical materials such as NdPr, required in permanent magnet technology, and we are therefore continually exploring the best way of producing rare earths responsibly from secondary sources, which removes significant time, risk and cost from the overall project timeline," said Bennett.