Name of the Project
Makuutu rare earths project.

Location
Uganda, 120 km east of Kampala.

Project Owner/s
Ionic Rare Earths (IonicRE). The company currently owns 51% of Makuutu; however, it will increase its stake to 60% on completion of the feasibility study before October 2022 and has a pre-emptive right over the remaining 40% stake.

Project Description
Makuutu is an ionic adsorption clay (IAC) deposit. IAC deposits contain rare-earth elements ionically bonded to the clay rather than existing as primary minerals in the ore.

A base case scoping study has demonstrated the potential for Makuutu to become a sustainable, long-life operation, supplying critical rare-earth oxide (REO) and heavy REO to global markets, and generating strong financial returns while delivering significant social and economic benefits for the local communities.

The study proposes openpit mining over an initial 11-year mine life, with the IAC run-of-mine (RoM) fed into a modular heap-leach plant, where the REO is recovered from the IAC mineralisation using salt desorption to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate product.

The first module will process 2.50-million tonnes a year of RoM and produce about 800 t/y REO equivalent product.

Additional modules will be added in years 2, 4, 6 and 9 to increase the plant throughput up to 12.50-million tonnes by Year 10.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $321-million and an internal rate of return of 38%, with a payback of about five years.

Capital Expenditure
Total capital expenditure (capex) is estimated at $301-million.

Preproduction capex, including contingency, is estimated at $89-million for Module 1, including the mining fleet.

The Module 2 expansion in Year 2 is estimated at $40-million.

The expansion from Module 2 to 5, estimated at about $172-million, will be funded from project cash flow.

Planned Start/End Date
Production is expected in 2024.

Latest Developments
IonicRE has released more confirmatory results from drilling on the Makuutu rare earths project.

The company completed Tranche 5 of an 8 220 m Phase 4 drill programme in October 2021, which further confirmed Makuutu as a large-scale, ionic adsorption clay-hosted rare-earth element project, with extension potential to the east and northwest.

The Tranche 5 submission includes 110 drill holes within the existing inferred and indicated mineral resource estimate at the Makuutu Central Zone, resource area one, and has also evaluated Exploration Targets C and E that were excluded from the 2021 MRE.

Notable intervals reported from the Tranche 5 assay results include 7.4 m grading 1 829 parts per million (ppm) total rare-earth oxides (TREO) from 3.2 m, 11.4 m grading 1 567 ppm TREO from 3.3 m and 10.7 m grading 1 489 ppm TREO from 3 m.

“With this batch, the Phase 4 drilling assay data has nearly all been delivered, and the resource geologist engaged. The Makuutu resource remains on course for a significant upgrade in confidence in the near term, with the mineral resource estimate update advancing Makuutu another step closer to our goal of submitting a mining licence application later in 2022,” Ionic MD Tim Harrison has stated.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
IonicRE, tel +61 8 9481 2555.