Last checked at 21 Jul 2017 13:31
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 July 2017
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd ('Rainbow' or 'the Company') (LSE: RBW)
Mine Inauguration Ceremony
Rainbow, the rare-earth element mining company, is pleased to announce that it hosted His Excellence The President of the Republic of Burundi and other notable guests at an inauguration ceremony for the Company's Gakara Rare Earth Project ('Gakara') this morning.
Guests attended a series of speeches and traditional Burundian cultural celebrations in the town of Mutambu, located close to Rainbow's first mining area at Gasagwe, where first production and sales of rare earth concentrate is targeted in Q4 2017. Speeches were delivered by His Excellency Mr Pierre Nkurunziza, President of the Republic of Burundi, Burundi's Minister for Mines and Energy, Come Manirakiza, and Rainbow's CEO, Martin Eales.
Martin Eales, CEO of Rainbow, commented: "The Gakara Project is currently the most advanced mining development project in Burundi and Rainbow was pleased to welcome so many honoured guests to our ceremony today. We value highly all of the support that we have received from the Government of Burundi and the local population.
"Our mining activity at Gasagwe continues to make great progress in readiness for the commissioning of our processing plant and first sales of rare earth concentrate as planned in Q4 this year. The commencement of production at Gakara is timely as market prices for rare earths have strengthened significantly in the period since Rainbow's IPO and these increases will directly impact our anticipated sales revenues."
**ENDS**
For further information, please contact:
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd | Martin Eales | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3910 4550 |
St Brides Partners Ltd | Lottie Brocklehurst Susie Geliher | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Notes to Editors:
Rainbow's focus is the Gakara Project in Burundi, one of the highest-grade (47-67% Total Rare Earth Oxide) rare earths projects globally. In January 2017, the Company raised US$8 million to fast-track the fully permitted Gakara Project to production ahead of targeted first sales of concentrate by the end of 2017. Rainbow has a ten-year distribution and offtake agreement with multinational thyssenkrupp Raw Materials secured for the sale of at least 5,000 tpa of concentrate produced. The Gakara basket is weighted heavily towards the magnet rare earths, including neodymium and praseodymium, which are driving demand and account for 70% of annual global REE sales due to their use in vital components in motors, generators, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.