Name of the Project
Makuutu rare earths project.

Location
Uganda, 120 km east of Kampala.

Project Owner/s
Ionic Rare Earths (IonicRE).

Project Description
Makuutu is an ionic adsorption clay (IAC) deposit. IAC deposits contain rare-earth elements (REE) 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 rare-earth oxide (HREO) 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 2.5-million tonnes a year 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 12.5-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 is evaluating the development of a standalone rare earth separation and refining facility for the downstream processing of mixed rare-earth carbonate (MREC) product from its Makuutu rare earths project.

The refining and processing facility will produce refined critical REO and HREO.

IonicRE has said that the majority of current HREO refining capacity is located in China, with minor capacity also located in Vietnam.

The company has said that the development of a strategically located, dedicated facility, has the potential to be a substantially earnings accretive asset, which will enhance and strengthen the engagement and participation of potential strategic partners looking to secure access to product from the Makuutu basket.

The scale of the separation and refinery facility is likely to be initially set at about 4 000 t/y REO equivalent feed, reflecting an alignment to the peak projected production capacity at Makuutu.

Given the potential for Makuutu to support long-life, low-cost REO production for a period of 27 years, and recent exploration results defining further scale for significant additional growth in resources at the project, the development of a standalone separation and refining asset provides greater long-term strategic importance and upside for the company, MD Tim Harrison has said.

Harrison has said that the timeline to production from Makuutu remains firm, with production targeted for 2024. As the company ramps up Makuutu over the rest of the decade until 2030, Ionic also wants to ensure it “can build separation and refinery capacity to match that scale of production proposed at Makuutu. To meet those goals, now is the time to start this activity”.

The proposed separation and refinery facility will be fully owned by IonicRE and will enable the company to increase payability attained from the MREC basket produced at Makuutu to 100% payability for refined individual REO products.

The company currently owns 51% of Makuutu, however, it will increase its stake to 60% on the completion of the feasibility study before October 2022 and has a pre-emptive right over the remaining 40% stake.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

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