Mining Intelligence and News
South Africa

Phalaborwa Project

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Overview

Mine TypeTailings
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • REE
Mining Method
  • Hydraulic mining
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SnapshotThe Phalaborwa Project rare earths resource is contained in two phosphogypsum stacks which are the by-product of historic phosphoric acid production on the site, which ceased in 2014.

Project is largely permitted and positioned in an established mining town - available skills and infrastructure.

Operation will perform environmental clean-up of acid water on site and sale of benign gypsum by- product will see full rehabilitation of site.

Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in 2022 confirmed robust economics. Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) now underway.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Bosveld Phosphates (Pty) Ltd. 30 % Indirect
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd. 70 % Indirect
The amended agreement, signed on 18 January 2022, confirms Rainbow's shareholding in the Joint Venture the Phalaborwa at 70%, with the remaining 30% held by Bosveld.

TechMet Option

TechMet Limited has been granted an option to invest US$50 million as part of the equity funding component for the Phalaborwa capital cost, which will see TechMet take a direct ownership stake at project level. The TechMet stake will be dependent on the net present value set out in the definitive feasibility study for the project. Based on the agreed formula, the equity stake will be within a range of 15-33%, underpinning a valuation of the project equity at between US$151.5 million and US$333.3 million.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Tailings

Summary:

The 2-billion-year-old (Archean) Phalaborwa Carbonatite Complex contains apatite-bearing zones, the primary source of South African phosphate production. Phalaborwa carbonatite contains two types of apatite ores: foskorite and pyroxenite.

The manufacture of phosphoric acid from phosphate concentrate produced a phosphogypsum waste which has been deposited on 2 large stacks. The REE in the phosphate ore reports primarily to the phosphate concentrate delivered to the PA plants.

The two stacks are situated to the West of the Phalaborwa mining complex. The residue stacks were deposited on a relatively flat base, consisting of soil and gravel, which was intersected in some of the drill holes.

Stack A, the largest of the 2 stacks, with an approximate basal dimensions of 1,200 m x 700 m, has a higher surface elevation and steeper slopes. An acidic water pond (with a depth of c.4 m at its deepest central part) covers most of the top centre of the stack. Some gypsum has been mined for agriculture purposes has been removed from the NE corner of stack A.

Stack B, with an approximate basal surface of 800 m x 650 m, is lower and has gentler slopes than stack A. The acid pond on top is smaller, but with a depth virtually the same as for stack A. Some gypsum quarrying and mining has taken place in the SE and SW corners of stack B.

In both stacks, the material is made of white, fine-grained, friable phosphogypsum which is indurated/cemented at surface. The gypsum residues have been deposited as a thinly bedded layered sediment pack; however, various other facies have also been observed at surface depth. The gypsum takes a grey colouration at surface (caused by magnetite dust from the nearby dump used to feed to the magnetite plant) but becomes white underneath.

Around and probably in the floor of the acid water ponds, the surface material is made of a hard/cemented gypsum crust 5 to 10 cm thick.

Auger and open-hole drilling carried out by RRE in 2020 and 2022 has showed that the phosphogypsum material is very uniform in colour and grain size from surface to the bottom of the stacks. Moisture content increases with depth ranging from relatively dry to totally sloppy to a point that samples cannot be recovered using conventional drilling methods. The homogeneity of the stacks was confirmed by the relative uniformity of the REE grades, laterally and at depth.

The host apatite ore that originally contained the REE’s has a favourable distribution of individual elements dominated by Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr) and Dysprosium (Dy). The REE’s were upgraded by the Foskor concentration process and then again during the phosphoric acid production process where REE reported to the phosphogypsum residue deposited on the stacks.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
REE t 1,84826,208
All production numbers are expressed as oxide.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs (sold) Total Rare Earth Oxides USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Dysprosium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Terbium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Praseodymium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Neodymium USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Total Rare Earth Oxides USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2022
G&A ($/t milled) USD 0.67 *  
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Operating margin, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 16, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 16, 2023

EmployeesContractorsYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2022

Aerial view:

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