JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Rare earth elements mining company Rainbow Minerals on Monday said its mining and plant construction timetable at the Gakara deposit, in Burundi, remains on track to deliver first rare-earth concentrate for sale in the fourth quarter.
Mining to remove overburden started at initial mine site Gasagwe in April, ahead of stockpiling the high-grade material from the main vein, with the discovery of several unrecorded veins at Gasagwe further supporting the company’s confidence of significant upside to the known mineralisation.
This will be the company’s primary source of run-of-mine ore during 2017/18. By the end of May, the number of local workers trained and inducted by Rainbow’s team had doubled to 80.
As well as being trained to assist with mining activities, the additional workers will also be assigned to exploration and road maintenance roles.
Significant progress has also been made with preparation work at the Kabezi site, with permitting concluded ahead of civil works and construction of the processing plant.
CEO Martin Eales said the fast-tracked development schedule was bearing fruit and Rainbow would make solid progress towards first production of rare earth concentrate within the next six months.