Name of the Project
Gakara rare earths project.

Location
The Gakara mining licence is located within the north-eastern Kibaran belt, in the Bujumbura province of western Burundi.

Client
Rainbow Rare Earths has a 90% interest in the project, with a nondilutable 10% owned by the Burundi government.

Project Description
Gakara is one of the highest-grade – 47% to 67% total rare-earth oxide (TREO) – rare earths projects globally.

The project hosts a deposit with a very high run-of-mine grade, averaging 54.3% TREO for 141 853 t of contained TREO, with high-quality and well understood mineralogy.

The high grade of the vein material is expected to enable Rainbow to pursue a low-risk processing route. Owing to the minimal level of processing required, complex and expensive processing facilities and the use of hazardous chemicals will not be required.

Rainbow is fast-tracking the project to production and will produce a high-grade concentrate using simple mining.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
First sales of concentrate are expected by the end of 2017.

Latest Developments
Rainbow Rare Earths plans to increase production at its Gakara mine, in Burundi, to an annualised rate of 5 000 t/y by the end of this year.

This follows the company’s discovering significant rare-earth element (REE) mineralisation during its maiden drilling campaign at Gakara.

“The majority of the drill holes completed to date have been focused on just the first of five targets at Kiyenzi and we are excited to have discovered new rare-earth mineralisation, up to 2 m thick in some cases.

“The discovery of REE-mineralised breccias is significant, as it proves that the Gakara project has potential to include sizeable deposits in addition to existing well-known vein stockworks,” Rainbow CEO Martin Eales has said.

The coming months are set to be highly active on the ground he has further noted.

In conjunction with the ongoing production and sale of high-grade concentrate from the Gasagwe deposit, Rainbow will complete the Phase 1 targets over the coming weeks, and is planning for and committed to Phase 2 of the drill programme to deliver a code-compliant resource estimate by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Obsideo Consulting (EPCM).

On Budget and on Time?
The project is firmly on track to deliver its first shipment of concentrate from the mine in the fourth quarter of this year.

Contact Details for Project Information
Rainbow Rare Earths, email info@rainbowrareearths.com.