Burundi

Rainbow Rare Earths' Gakara Rare Earth Project is located in Western Burundi, approximately 20km south-southeast of Bujumbura and covers a combined area of approximately 135km². There is good infrastructure near to the Gakara Project, with good road links to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya. Rainbow was granted a mining licence in March 2015 which is valid for 25 years, and is renewable thereafter. Rainbow has a 90% interest in the Gakara Project with a non-dilutable 10% owned by the State.

Historical mining at the site demonstrates the consistency of the grade and mineralisation of the concentrate whilst also providing significant detail and validation of the vein/stockwork rare earth mineralisation system.

In September 2016, the Company commissioned MSA Group to prepare an independent Competent Person’s Report on the Gakara Project. MSA has calculated an Exploration Target of between 20,000 and 80,000 tonnes of mineralised material grading 47-67% total REO.

The mineralised veins, containing nearly pure bastnaesite and monazite mineralization are discrete and narrow, and the mineralised material separates easily from the less dense host rock which, in itself, is amenable to manual digging. The 408 in-situ veins identified to date range in thickness from a few centimetres to a few tens of centimetres. The veins have been shown to typically extend laterally for tens of metres, the longest recorded being around 40 metres, and have been observed to extend down to depths greater than 25 metres. The veins outcrop at surface on steep slopes or river incisions but are frequently under cover
.Rainbow produced 1000 tonnes of REO concentrate during 2018. It has a distribution agreement in place with Thyssenkrupp Raw Materials and has signed a co-operation agreement for a downstream processing Definitive Feasibility Study with TechMet.