Rainbow Rare Earths has started a new study for a major rare earth project in Brazil as the company expands technology developed through its operations in South Africa.
The company has begun a pre-feasibility study for its Uberaba rare earth project in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.
An earlier economic assessment estimated the project’s post-tax net present value at $916 million.
Rainbow Rare Earths advances Brazil project
The Uberaba project plans to recover valuable rare earth elements from phosphogypsum, a by-product of phosphate processing.
Rainbow plans to assess a facility capable of processing around 2.7 million tonnes of phosphogypsum each year.
The project is expected to operate for about 30 years.
The study follows an economic assessment completed in March and a development agreement with Mosaic.
South Africa provides key expertise
Rainbow Rare Earths is also developing the Phalaborwa project in South Africa.
The project contains rare earth elements within phosphogypsum stacks left behind by historic phosphate mining.
According to the company, Phalaborwa has an estimated mineral resource of 35 million tonnes.
Rainbow says the expertise developed at Phalaborwa could now help advance its project in Brazil.
Mosaic is also sending another six tonnes of phosphogypsum from Brazil to Rainbow’s laboratory and pilot plant in South Africa for testing.
Rare earths could be recovered from waste
The project aims to produce several valuable rare earth materials.
These include separated neodymium and praseodymium oxide, which are important materials for permanent magnets used in technologies including electric vehicles and wind turbines.
It also plans to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate containing samarium, europium and gadolinium.
The products are expected to reach purity levels of around 99.5%, according to Mining Weekly.
Project valued at $916 million
The March economic assessment estimated Uberaba’s post-tax net present value at $916 million.
It also projected an internal rate of return of 45%.
Average annual EBITDA could reach $217 million over an initial 30-year operating period, with an estimated payback period of 1.7 years.
However, these remain projections rather than guaranteed future returns. The estimates were based on rare earth spot prices available when the assessment was prepared.
Rainbow CEO George Bennett said the Brazilian project could demonstrate how technology and expertise developed at Phalaborwa can be applied to other phosphogypsum projects.