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Update on the Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project DFS
Rainbow Rare Earths Limited has provided an update on its Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), announcing significant optimisations and simplifications to the process flowsheet during H1 2026. The pilot plant successfully operated, feeding data into the DFS, and 75% of the flowsheet, leading to a mixed rare earth feed for the solvent extraction circuit, is now in the engineering phase. These optimisations are expected to reduce costs and risks, enabling the production of high-purity neodymium praseodymium oxide and other valuable rare earth elements like dysprosium and terbium, positioning Phalaborwa as a near-term, low-cost producer. Disclaimer*
About this update from Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd.
1 July 2026 Rainbow Rare Earths Limited ("Rainbow" or "the Company") LSE: RBW Update on the Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project DFS Highlights · Rainbow's test work and pilot plant operations have optimised and simplified the flowsheet at Phalaborwa · Major process decisions and optimisations have been delivered and implemented by Rainbow's in-house laboratory · Pilot plant has operated successfully during H1 2026 with the data recovered feeding into the process design for the Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") · 75% of flowsheet now in engineering phase of DFS, final optimisation of the solvent extraction ("SX") circuit underway NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT Rainbow Rare Earths is pleased to announce an update on the DFS currently underway at the Phalaborwa project in South Africa. This project will be the first commercial recovery of rare earth elements ("REE") from phosphogypsum, a waste product from phosphoric acid production, which means that many of the costs, risks and long timescales associated with traditional mining projects are eliminated. Over the course of H1 2026, work has continued to focus on optimising and simplifying the flowsheet at Phalaborwa to enhance the plant operability and reduce risk when moving to commercial scale. The pilot plant has been operating successfully throughout H1.Having demonstrated the ability to produce a commercial intermediate product as announced in February this year, optimisation work has continued on the final stage, the SX separation process using the leading technology for rare earth separation. The optimisation work with our technical partner has resulted in an update to the flowsheet further simplifying it and enabling the production of a mixed rare earth feed. This will feed directly into the SX separation process from the continuous ion exchange ("CIX") circuit in a more cost-effective manner without the need to produce the intermediate product first. The final product from the SX circuit will be separated neodymium praseodymium oxide ("NdPr oxide") and SEG+ Group at 99.5% purity as well as commercial quantities of products which include dysprosium ("Dy"), terbium, ("Tb") and yttrium ("Y") that are expected to unlock higher returns than the intermediate product alone. 75% of the flowsheet, up to the po...
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