Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF) unveiled an updated technical report detailing how it will economically extract rare earth elements from the phosphogypsum stacks at its Phalaborwa project in South Africa.
Several key enhancements have been made, resulting in significant anticipated capital and operating cost savings for the Phalaborwa preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which is currently being finalised, compared with the initial processing options considered when work started.
The processing flowsheet, developed with K-Technologies Inc, represents a breakthrough in allowing for the economic extraction of rare earth elements from phosphogypsum, which has historically proven to be challenging, said Rainbow.
“Working alongside our partners at K-Tech we have continually seen opportunities for refinement and optimisation as the flowsheet has developed,” said Rainbow chief executive George Bennett.
“We anticipate that this process will continue as we progress from the PEA to PFS [pre-feasibility study] and BFS [bankable feasibility study] at Phalaborwa, alongside test work at other phosphogypsum opportunities, giving scope for both capital and operating cost reductions from the Phalaborwa PEA.”
It expects to compete the Phalaborwa PEA at the end of September/early October.
Rainbow and K-Tech anticipate the potential for wider application of the processing flowsheet than just the Phalaborwa project and are jointly applying for international patents.
Rainbow said it is also in the process of identifying global projects where the technology could be used to unlock further sources of rare earths from phosphogypsum.
Yesterday, Rainbow 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.