Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd. CEO George Bennett, who recently took up the reins of the London-listed mining company, said it is looking to increase the production of rare earth oxides at its Gakara mine in Burundi to 10,000 tonnes from the 1,638 tonnes mined in the fiscal year ended June 30.
"If the resource allows it, I would like to move to bulk mining," Bennett told S&P Global Market Intelligence. "They have been trial mining at Gakara for nearly two years and they have a proven resource that is easy to mine, it's a free dig, and it has been consistently producing rare oxide concentrate grading 57%."
Demand for rare earths has increased as the world moves towards renewable energy and electric cars, and it is already widely used in defense and electronic technology. China hosts a third of the world's rare earth reserves but accounts for 80% of rare earth production.
The U.S. trade war with China, in which Beijing has warned the U.S. it could cut off supply, has highlighted the need to find new sources of rare earth and to diversify production to prevent dominance by a single country.
Rainbow Rare Earths began operating in Burundi in 2017 and has an off-take agreement with thyssenkrupp AG. Elsewhere in Africa, Mkango Resources Ltd. and Noble Group Ltd. are developing the Songwe Hill rare earths mine and processing facility that is still several years from coming online in Malawi.
Bennett, who has 25 years experience in mining and finance, said his two priorities were stabilizing production at the mine and developing an understanding of the deposit through exploration and a study of how to make the best use of the mine.
"I am very excited by the project, it's very amenable to low cost methodology, it has no radioactive minerals ... which makes it easy to transport and mine, and it's a good quality grade," he said.
