JORK30 May 2019 10:19
17 December 2018
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd ('Rainbow' or 'the Company') (LSE: RBW)
Maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate
Rainbow, the rare earth element mining company, is pleased to announce a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate completed in accordance with JORC (2012) in respect of the Company's Gakara rare earths project in Burundi, East Africa ('Gakara' or 'the Project'), which is Africa's only producing rare earth mine.
Highlights
· Total Maiden JORC compliant Resource of over 1.2 million tonnes of ore covering a small fraction of the Gakara Project - confirming for the first time the scale of the deposit
· Three areas (Gasagwe, Murambi South and Gomvyi Centre) are very high grade vein stockwork deposits - totalling 12,491 tonnes of Total Mineral Resource at an average TREO grade of 55% (compared to average rare earth project grades of c.1-4% TREO)
· Kiyenzi is a very large, lower grade mineralised deposit with nearly 1.2 million tonnes Mineral Resource at an average grade of 2.2% TREO employing a cut-off of 1% TREO
· The Mineral Resource is based on only four out of the 28 mineralised prospects across Rainbow's existing Mining Licence - indicating significant further upside for future exploration
· The Exploration Target for very high grade vein ore (on a consistent 2016 basis) has increased by 70% following work undertaken across the deposit since IPO in January 2017
· Rainbow plans to rapidly bring Gomvyi Centre and Kiyenzi into production during 2019
Martin Eales, CEO of Rainbow, said: "We are pleased to announce the maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate for the Gakara project, on time and on budget. The Mineral Resource, which is based on only four out of the 28 identified targets within our licence, shows over 1.2 million tonnes of ore, a considerable deposit in its own right, and provides further evidence that the Gakara deposit is a world-class source of rare earth oxides.
"Three of the areas are high-grade vein stockworks, and include 12,491 tonnes of ore Resource at 55% TREO. These alone will provide over two years' head feed for our planned ramp-up to 5,000t concentrate, and we will of course continue to explore these deposits further.
"The Kiyenzi deposit has been confirmed as a very large, lower grade deposit, which ties in with the airborne and ground gravity results previously announced. The currently modelled deposit amounts to nearly 1.2 million tonnes of ore at 2.2% TREO, and may well be related to a carbonatite source. This deposit is open in all directions and is an extremely exciting prospect as it presents a new opportunity for Rainbow to further develop its mining and processing capabilities.
"These results will provide us with confidence in our ability to obtain near and medium-term sources of ore, but more importantly point to the existence of a truly unique deposit, which we will continue to explore in the future."
JORC 2012 Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate
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