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Just as a contrast with today's share price drop, the Van Eck Rare Earths ETF (REMX) is currently up 4.16%. I guess this is just what happens when a journalist gets the wrong end of a stick in an interview / press conference! Something similar happened to B2Gold in Mali just a couple of weeks ago. And, by the time the correction comes, the damage has already been done.

Hi Nick-Rac! You'd think so the share price will recover to yesterday's close. You'd hope so. But you never can tell. Anyway, the company forecast of ramping up to a production run rate of 5,000 tonnes per annum by the end of this calendar year hasn't changed for some time. (They also forecast an increase to 6,000 tonnes run rate in 2019, just by mining the existing narrow vein resources.) That's a significant chunk of world supply of rare earths - and that's without considering Rainbow's very promising exploration upside.

I don't really know. I think this is just the traders selling off, panicked by the apparent big sell yesterday. I just had a nibble and bought a few at 21p. But I've got no idea if that was the bottom or not.

The trick is in the timing, and not buying too soon or too late. Not so easy that!

Has anybody else noticed that we haven't had an RNS about issuing the shares due to La Petite Mine in return for selling to Hummingbird their 1% royalty and 5% stake in Yanfolila mine? Any explanations? Could it be just broker inefficiency? Or could it be that, if La Petite Mine were planning to sell the shares off straightaway on the open market, Dan Betts has offered them cash instead (in a kind of implicit share buyback deal)? Or what?

A little nugget of information from the Proactive Investors evening: Martin Eales said that Rainbow's largest operating cost was trucking the concentrate from Burundi to Mombassa port, a 6 day trip. If that's so, it gives you an idea of how cheap mining the stuff must be!

So, Miton are disclosing that they currently own 5.37% of the company as of 6th April, and that they passed the 5% barrier back in December. Legal and General also own 6% from back in December, and they haven't notified that they have increased their holding since then. So, the question is, who bought all the shares in those round figure institutional buys back in February and March? i thought it must be Miton, but it seems not. Do we have another institutional investors lurking in the shadows? FirstTimeBagger is right, of course. It's very strange that a small Burundi based miner is attracting such heavyweight institutional attention. But also very welcome.

Otho! You know I'm a Rainbow chaser - all hail the mighty lopolith!

I think the giveaway is the huge trench that the local artisan miners have dug at Tekeledougou. Their method of mining (basically shovel, pickaxe, and metal detector) means that they are looking for largeish flakes of fresh gold. I.e. they need a reasonably high grade of ore to make their efforts worthwhile. So, I'm very hopeful about today's RNS, but waiting for the assay results. And, yes, if the assay results are good, it makes a lot of sense to fast track further drilling at Tekeledougou. It would be good news for both Cora and Hummingbird.

RNS out - drilling completed at Tekeledougou (7km from Yanfolila mine). Visual gold and quartz sheer zone evident BUT actual assay results later in the quarter. Looks (very) good, but too early to be sure.

Yes, the Cora RNS looks very good, for both Cora and Hummingbird. However, it's too early to be sure - the assay results will only come through later in the quarter.

I wonder what that wonderful new cheap gold producer might be. Ho, hum...

Hi AllThatGuff! I agree with you. In fact, I'd be happier if JLP took over BMR tomorrow. The fact is that Alex Borelli, the CEO of BMR, is simply not the kind of person you want to be associated with in business. He's that kind of figure that gives AIM such a bad name. But, we are where we are. Do JLP have a few million quid to spare on a full BMR takeover bid right now? I don't think so. If it helps, remember that BMR management own very few shares in BMR, and that the rest of the shareholder base is made up of PIs and is hopelessly fragmented. A 29% shareholding gives JLP the power to call an EGM whenever they want and to vote out the current BMR board. It's all but effective control.

Hi Moneyhawk! 1. The installation of the vanadium circuit at Kabwe still requires a key permission from ZEMA (i.e. the Zambian Govt.). This can be VERY slow in coming. Also, vanadium chemistry is notoriously tricky and difficult to master. So I have serious doubts about the timelines being thrown around here. However, if the vanadium circuit can be made to work, it will increase the revenues of Kabwe substantially (think 50% to 70%). 2. The current plant (5t/hr) is really only a largeish pilot plant. IMO, there will need to be a much bigger plant (50t/hr?) to effectively process the tailings. Essentially, I see this year as a rush to complete the current pilot plant and to keep the mining licence. Then 2019 will see the installation and ramp up of the vanadium circuit PLUS the planning of a much larger scale plant. And 2020-2022 will see the financing, build, and ramp-up of a full-scale plant, which will have a planned operational life of roughly 15 years. It's important to note that this scenario means that all the free cash flow generated by the pilot plant will be ploughed back into the Kabwe joint venture for several years. I don't expect any of it to flow back to JLP or BMR until around 2023. And the full-scale plant will almost certainly require project level debt finance as well. So, Kabwe will be nothing but a financial burden for JLP for several years. However, in recompense, the eventual pay-off (in terms of future free cash flows) should be huge. This deal really could make JLP a $1bn mcap company by 2023. As for BMR, either they are left as a kind of shadow "zombie" company whose only function is to own a share of the eventual (2023+) profits from the Kabwe operation, or JLP take them over fully. (FWIW, I don't think there is a big need to hurry over this step. BMR's share price will go nowhere soon. And JLP already have effective control over BMR via their 29% shareholding.)

So, I discovered that Van Eck have an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) for Rare Earths (ticker REMX). The bad news is that closer inspection shows that the ETF invests not only in rare earths, but also in other "strategic" minerals - like cobalt, tungsten, lithium and molybdenum. In fact, most of its holdings are NOT in rare earths. So using REMX as a proxy for rare earth prices just won't do. The good news is that 6% of the fund is currently allocated to Aussie rare earth producer Lynas, and 0% currently to Rainbow. So, in due course, when it comes to the next rebalancing of the fund, we could well have a new institutional buyer. I don't think a fund with a name like this can simply ignore one of the very few non-Chinese actual producers of rare earths.

Hi Darola! Thanks for the reply. Re: Sanankoro. Also, has anybody done any research on the licences of other gold explorers nearby (i.e. within 25m ore trucking distance) that they would be willing to share? (I think AGG is one). I wonder if Cora's and Hummingbird's joint long term plan isn't as follows: 1. Explore Sanankoro fully, and prove up a reasonable resource at a reasonable grade. 2. Buy out other explorers nearby, and include their resources into a "Greater Sanankoro" mine plan. (Especially, as explored in-ground ounces are so cheap at the moment). 3. Design, finance, and build the mine in the manner of Yanfolila.

Vigenere - do the maths! 5t per hour producing only lead and zinc doesn't lead to much profit in the short term. And the plant will require several months of ramp-up as well, I'm sure. And as Moneyhawk points out, as soon as the 5t per hour plant is operational, it will need to be expanded to a proper commercial size. I.e. More investment by JLP which will also need to be paid back before BMR share in any actual profits. IMO, BMR won't see any profit from Kabwe for years and years. They are a zombie company. No income and no purpose (and truly dreadful management). For me, there really is only one winner here - JLP. And if you must invest in a second company, then go for Galileo (GLR), and not BMR!

Hi Itsaduster! Re: Rumoured increase in supply of REE by 2020. I think the usual rules of mining still apply - that is, only 1/3 of projects which reach feasibility stage actually ever get to production. Most of this rumoured new rare earth production requires very high capex. Either, most of the projects won't happen at all, or they will take much longer than suggested. Mining companies with projects are like film producers with scripts - most never happen.

Any predictions as to when we will receive the next set of drill results from Sanankoro? It should be soon, shouldn't it?

Re: "Hummingbird's last financial year" I think Blackfisk is referring to the possibility of Hummingbird being taken over by a larger gold miner. At least, that's how I read it. IMO, a takeover of HUM is almost a certainty if the share price doesn't rise soon. Just do the maths! Speaking for myself, I won't be very happy about it. But to receive, let's say, 45p a share won't be a disaster, either.