Chemical company turning radioactive waste into money with half its operations in Africa advances $912 million Brazil rare earth project

The rare earth firm with half its project in South Africa, Rainbow Rare Earths, recently commenced its pre-feasibility assessment (PFS) of its Uberaba Project in Brazil.

The company, recognized for pioneering the first commercial extraction of rare earth elements from phosphogypsum, indicated that the PFS will evaluate an on-site processing facility designed to handle approximately 2.7 million tonnes of phosphogypsum waste annually over an anticipated 30-year period.

The Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) follows a successful economic evaluation of the Uberaba Project conducted in March.

Outside of the Uberaba project, Rainbow Rare Earths has only its Phalaborwa Project in South Africa, which it is currently developing.

According to the company, “The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project, located in South Africa, has a total JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 35.0 Mt at 0.44% TREO contained within phosphogypsum in two unconsolidated stacks derived from historic phosphate hard rock mining.”