AMN - BURUNDI: On track for first Gakara production

Rainbow Rare Earths is on track for first production and sales of rare earth concentrate during Q4 from the Gakara project in Burundi. The mining and plant construction timetable remains on schedule.

Gakara is one of the highest grade rare earth element mining projects globally, with an estimated in situ grade of 47-67% Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO).

Rainbow says mining of ore has commenced at the Gasagwe pit, plant construction at Kabezi is well under way, and civil engineering and earthworks are likely to be complete by the end of September.

At Gasagwe, the company has focused on the pre-stripping work since April 2017, which has exposed the Main Vein to a depth of around 3-5 metres along 90 metres of strike with several other subsidiary veins that are connected or adjacent.

Following completion of the construction of the run-of-mine (ROM) bunkers at the Kabezi plant site, Rainbow has commenced extraction of ROM ore and will be stockpiling the feedstock in advance of plant commissioning within the next six to eight weeks.

Rainbow continues to develop the new processing plant, which is ideally located approximately 20km from the company’s mining areas and 10km due south of Bujumbura. Importantly, it is next to a main asphalt road which will provide ease of access for the container trucks collecting rare earth concentrate for export.

Rainbow has completed bulk earthworks at the site and has made timely progress with the necessary civils construction in preparation for the erection of the processing plant, albeit with some temporary delays caused by local shortages of cement and aggregate.

Rainbow has already imported over half of the planned container shipments of plant and machinery, with the balance due to arrive during September and October.

In partnership with thyssenkrupp Raw Materials (TK), Rainbow expects to make first sales of rare earth concentrate in Q4. Prices for rare earth elements have been increasing rapidly in recent months and this has translated to Rainbow's own basket price, which by September 18 had risen to over US$18 per kg, an increase of more than 80% since the IPO on January 30, 2017.

Based on recent market feedback Rainbow and TK are confident that there is strong demand for all of Rainbow's planned near term production, which is to achieve an annual run rate of 5000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate before the end of 2018.

www.rainbowrareearths.com