Interim study confirms Phalaborwa project’s viability
The findings of an interim study at miner Rainbow Rare Earths’ Phalaborwa project, in South Africa, has confirmed the project’s viability and “exceptional economics”, despite two years of significant inflationary pressure.
The aim of the interim study was to update the economics of the project further to incorporate changes to the primary flowsheet to recover rare earth elements (REE) from the phosphogypsum stacks at Phalaborwa, as well as updating to current market pricing for all key areas of capital and operating costs.
Additionally, the results confirm that Phalaborwa will be able to deliver a high-grade intermediate product.
The interim study, carried out in conjunction with independent consultants METC Engineering, in South Africa, is at a much higher level of confidence than the original preliminary economic assessment (PEA).
The improved definition of the primary flowsheet has allowed the interim study economics to be prepared to a much higher level of economic accuracy than the PEA, with updated market prices from multiple suppliers used for the majority of the finalised major mechanical equipment, key reagents and other supplies, the miner says.
In addition to confirming the robust economics of Phalaborwa, the interim study has highlighted several areas for further operating and capital cost optimisation, which will be done in parallel with the ongoing rare earth separation testwork.
Rainbow CEO George Bennett says the findings of the interim study confirm that “Phalaborwa remains the highest-margin rare earth project in development today outside of China”.
He adds that the update reaffirms that Phalaborwa is extremely well positioned to contribute to the establishment of an independent and resilient supply chain for the REE critical to decarbonisation, defence and emerging technologies.
Going into 2025, Rainbow will be focusing on opportunities to drive further optimisation of its capital and operating costs, and to completing the separation test work.
INTERIM STUDY FINDINGS
The interim study is based on a project life of 16 years (two years longer than that envisaged in the PEA owing to the 15% increase in resource tonnages announced in September), processing an average of 2.2-million tonnes of phosphogypsum a year.
The overall recovery rate of magnet REE remains the same as that of the PEA at 65% based on the pilot campaign undertaken in 2023 to 2024, with about 1 900 t/y of magnet rare earths oxide (REO) production.
When calculated on the same basis as the PEA, this operation delivers a post-tax net present value (NPV) of $611-million, in line with the comparable PEA NPV of $627-million.
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