Rainbow Rare Earths is seeing rapid progress with Phalaborwa optimisation
Published: 08:14 03 Jun 2025 BST
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LSE:RBW, OTC:RBWRF) has updated on the progress of laboratory test work and trade-off studies at its Phalaborwa project in South Africa.
The company’s in-house laboratory in Johannesburg has been operational for around three months.
It is equipped with technology to support leaching, ion exchange, precipitation and separation test work across the full processing flowsheet.
The facility enables faster and lower-cost assay and bench-scale work compared to third-party providers. The turnaround time is significantly reduced, allowing for continuous and informed progress in the test programme.
"We are very proud of the laboratory we have built in Johannesburg, which incorporates state-of-the-art equipment that enables the performance of test work across the full Phalaborwa processing flow sheet,” chief executive George Bennett said in a statement.
“Establishing our own in-house facility allows for the execution and analysis of this critical optimisation and separation test work at an accelerated rate and at a much lower cost than using third-party facilities.”
Bennett added: “This optimisation work will further enhance the economic resilience of a project that is already deemed to be one of the highest margin REE projects in development today … At a time when the world urgently needs diversified REE supply, Phalaborwa is poised to be a strategic source of all four magnet rare earths."
The company’s priorities include optimising the leach circuit, which accounts for around 80% of the total project cost base, improving rare earth recovery via continuous ion exchange, and refining the route to final purification.
Work to date includes evaluating a two-stage high temperature leach process, comparing mechanical versus hydraulic reclamation, and examining on-site versus third-party acid sourcing. Power supply alternatives are also being reviewed.
The findings from this work will all feed into the project’s feasibility study, the company noted.
