Two enormous sandlike dunes at an traditional chemical processing plant in South Africa are at the centre of an exploratory US-backed project to extract highly sought-after rare earth elements from industrial mining waste.
The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project has US support through a US$50 million equity investment by the government’s International Development Finance Corporation and is part of accelerated US efforts to reduce its reliance on China for the minerals crucial for making electronic devices, electric vehicles and defence systems.
The project, led by Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd, targets phosphate mining waste at the former Phalaborwa operation in Limpopo province, where decades of fertilizer production left behind tailings rich in rare earth elements.
Initial sampling by the company indicates concentrations of neodymium and praseodymium — critical for permanent magnets in wind turbines and EV motors — at levels potentially viable for commercial extraction using a hydrometallurgical process developed in partnership with US-based technology firm K-Technologies.
The IDC investment, approved in late 2023, marks one of the first direct equity stakes by the US agency in an African rare earths initiative and follows a broader strategy to secure alternative supply chains after China imposed export controls on key rare earth technologies in 2022.
South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has granted the project a mining right for the tailings retreatment, citing its potential to revive industrial activity in the Phalaborwa basin while avoiding new ground disturbance.
Local community representatives have been engaged through the Phalaborwa Municipal Council, with agreements in place for skills training and preferential hiring, though no formal benefit-sharing contract has been finalised as of April 2024.
The project remains in the pre-feasibility stage, with a pilot plant scheduled for construction in the third quarter of 2024 to test extraction rates and reagent recovery rates on bulk samples.
If successful, the facility could produce up to 1,500 tonnes per annum of mixed rare earth carbonate by 2026, according to the company’s technical roadmap submitted to the IDC.
No production contract or offtake agreement has been publicly disclosed, and the IDC has not commented on potential resale terms or national security considerations related to the output.
The next milestone is the submission of the environmental impact assessment addendum to South Africa’s national regulator, expected by the end of May 2024.
