Modern Mining May 2017

RARE EARTHS

Gakara rare earth project

Rainbow Rare Earths, now listed on the LSE after a US$8 million fund-raising and successful IPO in January this year, is moving swiftly to bring its Gakara rare earth project in Burundi into production. Extraction of run-of-mine ore has started on site and an EPCM contract has been signed for the processing plant. The ore will be stockpiled until the plant becomes operational later this year. Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell recently spoke to Rainbow’s CEO, Martin Eales, to learn more about the project.

G akara is unusual on several counts. It ranks as one of the highest grade rare earth deposits in the world, the capex to get it up and running is incredibly low (at just US$2,23 million) and, once in produc- tion, it will be the only formal sector mine in Burundi (although the country does have some small scale gold, tungsten and coltan artisanal operations). Moreover, it will rank as one of the few producers of rare earths outside of China, which currently accounts for an esti- mated 90 % of world production. According to Eales, the low capex reflects

Martin Eales, CEO of Rainbow Rare Earths.

the phenomenally high grade of Gakara. “The estimated in-situ grade is in the range of 47 to 67 % total rare earth oxides (TREOs), with the average over the entire deposit being 57 %,” he says. “To put this in perspective, most other deposits around the world are in the region of 3 to 5 %. This means that for a specific level

Work underway at the initial mining area at Gasagwe allowing stockpiling of ore prior to process plant com- missioning later this year.

22  MODERN MINING  May 2017