TIDMRBW
Rainbow Rare Earths Limited
01 December 2023
1 December 2023
Rainbow Rare Earths Limited
("Rainbow" or "the Company")
LSE: RBW
Rainbow's partner K-Technologies, Inc. invited to present at a
U.S. Congressional Hearing on:
The Role of Federal Research in Establishing
a Robust U.S. Supply Chain of Critical Minerals and
Materials
-- K-Technologies, Inc.'s ("K-Tech") innovative technology can
play a part in the development of an independent Western supply of
the rare earths vital for decarbonisation, via their use in
electric vehicles and wind turbines, and many advanced and
strategic technologies
-- Rainbow has worked alongside K-Tech to jointly develop a
unique process that offers the potential to recover critical rare
earths from phosphogypsum, as is being applied at the Phalaborwa
project in South Africa
-- K-Tech is a homegrown U.S. company based in Florida with
extensive expertise in the development of specialist chemical
processing applications
NEWS RELEASE
Rainbow Rare Earths is pleased to announce that Mr. Thomas E.
Baroody, the President and CEO of its technical partner K-Tech, was
invited to provide a written and oral testimony at a U.S.
Congressional Hearing on "The Role of Federal Research in
Establishing a Robust U.S. Supply Chain of Critical Minerals and
Materials" on Thursday 30 November 2023. K-Tech specialises in
developing and bringing-to-market chemical and processing
applications to extract desirable, commercial grade elements and
other materials.
The U.S. has identified the development of an independent supply
chain as of strategic importance, both via the securement of
reliable and ethical supply of rare earth elements, as well as via
the development of a U.S. down-stream supply-chain including
specialist alloy, rare earth permanent magnets, drive trains, and
ultimately electric vehicle and wind turbine manufacture. K-Tech's
inclusion in the U.S. Congressional Hearing demonstrates the role
that its technology can play in furthering these aims.
Rainbow has worked alongside K-Tech to jointly develop a unique
process flowsheet to recover economic quantities of rare earths
from phosphogypsum material, thereby opening up the opportunity to
develop an independent Western supply of the rare earths critical
to decarbonisation and other strategic areas of national
importance, such as defence.
Rainbow will also be using the K-Tech proprietary continuous ion
exchange and continuous ion chromatography separation technology at
its Phalaborwa rare earth development project, which will allow for
the material to be processed into separated rare earth oxides of
99.95% purity. This separation technique replaces traditional
solvent extraction technology, which uses toxic and flammable
solvents and diluents and requires many different stages, thereby
delivering a process that is safer and more environmentally
responsible, as well as reduced capital and operating costs due to
a simplified flowsheet.
A U.S. Congressional Hearing is the principle formal method by
which U.S. congressional committees collect and analyse information
which goes on to shape legislative policymaking and decisions.
K-Tech was included in the critical minerals event alongside
representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, Stanford
University, GreenMet and San Jose State University.
Mr Baroody of K-Tech's written testimony is below:
"The Role of Federal Research in Establishing a Robust U.S.
Supply Chain
of Critical Minerals and Materials"
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, Space and Technology
November 30, 2023
Testimony of Thomas E. Baroody
President and Chief Executive Officer
K-Technologies, Inc.
Lakeland, Florida
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Chairman Lucas, Ranking Member Lofgren, and
members of the Committee. I want to thank you for the invitation to
be on this excellent panel today. As one of the representatives of
the private sector today, it is my hope that I can provide you all
with information and perspective as you consider the vital topic of
federal research and prudent taxpayer spending married with private
sector initiatives and risk-taking. Taken together, I believe we
are building a more robust and diverse U.S. supply chain of
critical minerals and materials. Time is of the essence and the
task is urgent.
RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AND THE HISTORIC CHALLENGE OF PROCESSING
Rare Earth Elements (REE) are available from multiple sources
such as mineral ores (generally higher grade), ionic clays
(generally lower grade, bulk tonnage) and waste materials
(phosphogypsum (PG), phosphoric acid sludges, coal mining tailings,
end-of-life magnets). Each of these sources require different
methods to liberate the contained REE, such as gravity
concentration, flotation, hydrometallurgical, and pyrometallurgical
processes.
For practical and economic purposes these initial processes must
be undertaken at the source location. Intermediate products are
then exported (predominantly to China) as a mineral concentrate,
typically 40% to 60% contained Rare Earth Oxides (REO) or as a
precipitate such as Mixed Rare Earths Carbonate (MREC). These
concentrates and MREC intermediate products are then processed to
produce separated and purified REO which feed the metal and alloy
manufacturers who in turn supply the magnet manufacturers.
Historically, and presently, the final stage of separating and
purifying the REE is performed by a highly inefficient, and
environmentally unfriendly, Solvent Extraction (SX) process which
is independent of the REE source. This SX process requires hundreds
of mixer-settlers and virtually all of the world's REE are produced
this way in China.
K-TECH AND THE COMMERICAL INDUSTRIAL PROCESS
I would like to talk today about some of the successful business
projects K-Tech is engaged in and what we are doing to advance the
goal of bringing critical minerals into the U.S.
Over the past 15 years, K-Tech has specialized in developing and
bringing-to-market chemical and processing applications to extract
desirable, commercial grade elements and other materials. Several
alternative technologies to SX are being researched and developed
in the West and by K-Tech. The most prospective of these
technologies, for early adoption, is Continuous Ion Exchange and
Continuous Ion Chromatography (CIX/CIC). This technology has been
applied in production facilities for a variety of industries around
the world for decades and has been the focus for technology
development at K-Tech since 1987, including for REE.
K-Tech has been researching and developing CIX/CIC for
application to REE separation and purification for several years
and has demonstrated the ability to separate REE with its CIX/CIC
process as a result of this research.
The CIX/CIC process has numerous advantages over the
conventional SX route in terms of economics, safety, environmental
impact, and size of plant, with much lower capital and operating
cost intensity.
Over the past several years the REE markets and supply chain
have seen some rather dramatic movements, and the global market now
realizes that REE from other sources, both from a feedstock (i.e.;
mining, waste tailing stacks, or recycled scrap) and geographical
standpoint, are needed. As such, there has been a significant
increase in REE sourcing assessments and evaluation of alternate
feedstock sources.
It is worth emphasizing that often we are utilizing ore from
waste by-products of other mining or processing projects from years
ago. By using mining waste as a feedstock, we are in a win-win
situation whereby critical minerals are being extracted at a lower,
commercially viable cost at a benefit to the environment.
It is well known that many phosphate rock sources contain some
level of REE, but the concentrations tend to be low, i.e., in the
parts/million to hundreds of parts/million. It is also known that
during the phosphate rock digestion process to produce phosphoric
acid, the majority of the REE is not dissolved, but remains in the
phosphogypsum waste. However, some percentage of available REE does
dissolve into phosphoric acid and this is where K-Tech had
initially focused its recovery efforts.
As an example, in the production of wet process phosphoric acid,
elements such as uranium, rare earths, yttrium, vanadium, cadmium,
fluorides, and silica are usually present in small quantities.
K-Tech's extraction technologies can treat large volumes of
intermediate process streams like phosphoric acid in a continuous
manner, and isolate and recover certain desired target elements in
a highly concentrated low volume solution. This solution in turn
can then be treated separately to produce one or more target
elements as marketable products.
THE EXAMPLE OF RAINBOW RARE EARTHS
Rainbow Rare Earths Limited (Rainbow) is in the business of
establishing an independent and ethical supply chain of the rare
earth elements that are driving the green energy transition and the
most advanced defense articles and systems. They have a focus on
the permanent magnet rare earth elements neodymium, praseodymium,
dysprosium and terbium. All four of these elements are categorized
by the U.S. Government as being vital in both the short term and
medium term.
I note that Rainbow, traded on the London Stock Exchange,
desires to have its products processed and used in the U.S., North
America, or allied European markets.
Their corporate strategy meshes well with the Department of
Energy's critical mineral strategy detailed in the department's
July 2023 "Critical Materials Assessment". That strategy document
focuses on diversifying and expanding U.S. supplies, developing
alternative manufacturing processes, enhancing material and
manufacturing efficiency to reduce waste, and assisting in
stockpiling and international engagements to benefit the U.S. (
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-07/doe-critical-material-assessment_07312023.pdf
)
Rainbow is developing its Phalaborwa REE project in South Africa
to recover REE from phosphogypsum and has opted for the CIX/CIC
process with K-Tech for the separation and purification of the REE
to produce the selected REO products. This presents a unique
opportunity for K-Tech to utilize its process allowing separated
REO to be produced, independently from China, for sale to the U.S.
and allowing development of a U.S. down-stream supply-chain
including specialist alloy, REE permanent magnets, drive trains,
and ultimately EV/wind turbine manufacture. From a national defense
standpoint, magnets are a driving force behind continuous
innovation in defense technology such as precision-guided
munitions, tank navigation systems, and electronic countermeasures
equipment. Without guaranteed independent supply these investments
could not be made in the US.
The Rainbow process to produce rare earths from historic
industrial waste, cleans up legacy environmental issues and
delivers a true circular economy benefit - not just producing REE
from waste, also allowing the cleaned gypsum residue to be sold for
agricultural/construction purposes.
Rainbow is also focusing on other global opportunities,
including recovery of REE from PG waste from Mosaic Fertilizantes'
Uberaba operation in Brazil owned by The Mosaic Company, a New York
Stock Exchange listed U.S. multinational. That project is at an
earlier stage of development, but the Brazilian undertaking is
currently operating and would involve processing a great deal more
PG over a much longer life than in South Africa.
The overall process is split into two major parts:
1) Front-end - production of a mixed REE product from the PG,
along with restacking of the cleaned-up benign PG into the new
lined stack for sale;
2) Back-end - processing of the mixed REE product through
K-Tech's propriety CIX/CIC system to produce the four target REE
oxides.
If Rainbow is successful in developing a Brazilian operation
like it plans in South Africa, the back-end of the processing
facility (K-Tech's CIX/CIC system) could logically be located in
the U.S. I understand that Rainbow is starting the process to
consider potential sites for a commercial plant in the U.S. If so,
this would greatly benefit U.S. production of critical rare earth
materials.
K-Tech is currently concluding a bench scale test program on the
Phalaborwa material and has assembled a CIX/CIC pilot plant for
Rainbow at its Lakeland, Florida facility. This pilot plant will
commence operation shortly on samples of MREC shipped from
Rainbow's pilot plant operation in South Africa, to demonstrate the
production of on-specification separated REO for the alloy and
magnet industry. The process in Lakeland will, for the first time,
allow for the production of separated REE battery metal oxides on a
commercial basis in the U.S. That represents a major step forward
in bringing this type of supply into the U.S.
I would also like to stress that by both public financing,
private capital, and U.S. research we are doing something else that
makes the U.S. unique-developing significant intellectual property
that ensures our nation is the technological leader for decades to
come. At K-Tech, my colleague Wes Berry (CTO of K-Tech), the
company, and I hold eight patents (soon to be nine as one is
scheduled to be issued in December 2023), of which three have been
sold to a third party. Also, our CTO was the inventor of the
CIX/CIC process, and holds some thirty other patents. The Rainbow
and K-Tech process teams have developed an innovative process to
recover REE from PG which has the potential to unlock the vast
resource of this material worldwide with a significant
environmental benefit for these polluted sites. Rainbow and K-Tech
are jointly progressing a patent application for the process to be
lodged in the U.S.
ROLE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
K-Tech is highly supportive of the federal government's efforts
to support domestic and foreign sourcing and processing, research,
and project funding to diversify a secure and sustainable supply
chain for minerals that are vital to our national defense and the
global economy. Programs undertaken by the Departments of Energy,
Defense, and Commerce and the U.S. International Development
Finance Corporation (DFC) are playing a key role in unlocking
capital to fund promising opportunities in mining and processing of
REEs and other critical minerals.
I understand that Rainbow has entered into an option agreement
whereby TechMet has the right to invest US$50 million to fund a
substantial part of the equity component for Rainbow's project in
South Africa. The DFC is an important shareholder in TechMet.
At the state government level, we work closely with the Florida
Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute (FIPR) affiliated with
the Florida Polytechnic University. K-Tech, FIPR, and Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are currently cooperating on a
joint submission to DOE for funding to examine the extraction of
REE from phosphoric acid sludges. Also, in 2014-15, K-Tech worked
with Texas Mineral Resources Corp. (TMRC) on a DOE grant to
successfully recover several targeted high purity REE from TMRC's
Round Top rhyolite orebody in West Texas. K-Tech also participated
with TMRC, and two other entities, in recovering REE from coal fly
ash waste from a Pennsylvania coal mine under a DOE grant in
2017-18.
CONCLUSION
Science at its essence is about trial and error-experimentation
based on systematic methodology based on evidence. The U.S. has
always led the world in the field of science. At K-Tech we are
devoted to furthering science that leads to better and practical
outcomes in the area of critical minerals.
I would like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to
provide you with testimony today. This Committee and all the other
Congressional committees with jurisdiction over the federal
government's role in shaping policy on science and technology,
national security, foreign relations, and appropriations must
continue to be well-versed on the rapidly changing environment on
critical minerals.
For further information, please contact:
Rainbow Rare Earths George Bennett
Ltd Company Pete Gardner +27 82 652 8526
IR Cathy Malins +44 7876 796 629
cathym@rainbowrareearths.com
Matthew Armitt
Jennifer Lee
Berenberg Broker Detlir Elezi +44 (0) 20 3207 7800
Tavistock Communications PR/IR Charles Vivian +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
Tara Vivian-Neal rainbowrareearths@tavistock.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
About Rainbow:
Rainbow Rare Earths aims to be a forerunner in the establishment
of an independent and ethical supply chain of the rare earth
elements that are driving the green energy transition. It is doing
this successfully via the identification and development of
secondary rare earth deposits that can be brought into production
quicker and at a lower cost than traditional hard rock mining
projects, with a focus on the permanent magnet rare earth elements
neodymium and praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
The Company is focused on the development of the Phalaborwa Rare
Earths Project in South Africa and the earlier stage Uberaba
Project in Brazil. Both projects entail the recovery of rare earths
from phosphogypsum stacks that occur as the by-product of
phosphoric acid production, with the original source rock for both
deposits being a hardrock carbonatite. Rainbow intends to use a
proprietary separation technique developed by and in conjunction
with its partner K-Technologies, Inc., which simplifies the process
of producing separated rare earth oxides (versus traditional
solvent extraction), leading to cost and environmental
benefits.
The Phalaborwa Preliminary Economic Assessment has confirmed
strong base line economics for the project, which has a base case
NPV(10) of US$627 million, an average EBITDA operating margin of
75% and a payback period of < two years. Pilot plant operations
commenced in 2023, with the project expected to reach commercial
production in 2026, just five years after work began on the project
by Rainbow.
More information is available at www.rainbowrareearths.com .
About K-Tech
K-Tech specializes in the development of process technologies
that require unique recovery and/or component separation demands,
especially those related to continuous separation methodologies.
These can be accomplished internally or in conjunction with its
clients.
In particular, the company has focused on various separation
processes involving continuous ion exchange, continuous
chromatography and advanced sorption techniques as they apply to a
variety of chemical and environmental applications. K-Tech also has
extensive knowhow and experience related to various solvent
extraction processes and methods, as well as knowledge of a variety
of separation techniques as adjuncts to its core methodologies,
e.g. reverse osmosis, distillation, crystallization, and the
like.
More information is available at www.ktech-inc.com .
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END
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