Name of the Project
Makuutu rare earths project.

Location
Uganda, 120 km east of Kampala.

Project Owner/s
Makuutu is 100%-owned by Ugandan company Rwenzori Rare Metals, of which Ionic Rare Earths currently owns 51%, which will increase to 60% on the completion of the feasibility study by the end of October 2022.

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
Ionic Rare Earths is continuing work programmes at the project in preparation for the mining licence application, which is due to be completed by November 2022.

Feasibility study activity is continuing, with mine plan enhancement starting to incorporate the larger 532-million-tonne mineral resource estimate into the project.

Metallurgical test work continues, despite being adversely affected by analytical turnaround times – which has delayed finalisation of the process model – and despite being delayed as a result of resourcing issues at commercial laboratories.

However, progress has been made on the ability to heap-leach Makuutu IAC mineralisation, with heap-leach columns successfully being operated at 5 m during the quarter ended June 2022. The results are pending, along with that of more than 500 new bottle rolls completed across 26 km of mineralisation tested at Makuutu.

Ionic has also completed a location analysis that has been used in discussions with potential partners for selection of potential refinery sites, with shortlisting and inspection of potential sites being completed, along with discussions on potential technology partners and end-user customers in the US.

The production profile of the refinery scoping study will also be aligned to the production profile after the enhancement of Makuutu’s mine plan, which is expected to be completed shortly, as is the Makuutu feasibility study and refinery scoping study.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Ionic Rare Earths, tel +61 8 9481 2555.