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London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Toronto-listed Neo Performance Materials for technical support and design input for Rainbow's final solvent extraction separation circuit.

Neo has started with testwork of Rainbow's high-grade rare earths solution at its facilities in Estonia.

Once completed, Neo will assist with running a confirmatory integrated pilot-scale separation plant in Johannesburg to support the Phalaborwa project's definitive feasibility study (DFS).

In return for the use of Neo's rare earth separation technology, Rainbow will grant offtake rights to Neo covering 40% of planned neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) production, and 65% of heavy rare earths production - including samarium, europium and gadolinium - from the Phalaborwa rare earths project, in South Africa.

Rainbow says working with Neo will enable the release of a prefeasibility study (PFS) on Phalaborwa during the fourth quarter, ahead of a DFS by the first half of 2027.

The final separation circuit of Phalaborwa is expected to deliver separated NdPr oxide at 99% purity and a mixed heavy rare earth carbonate containing dysprosium and terbium, suitable for further separation at Neo's facilities.

Rainbow CEO George Bennett says finalising a technology partner for the solvent extraction separation process was the remaining step required to complete the definition of the company's process to extract rare earths from phosphogypsum waste.

"We are delighted that Neo has agreed to partner with us - their deep understanding and experience in rare earth separation and magnet materials is invaluable. That they have taken the decision to partner with Rainbow is in line with an aligned strategy to secure a vital, verifiable source of the permanent magnet elements required to satisfy demand for a reliable, secure supply of rare earths," he adds.

Rainbow's decision to release a PFS will enable key project development activities to be initiated in earnest to support the overall timeline to production. It also supports Rainbow in evaluating the opportunity to list in the US.

"This partnership with Rainbow advances Neo's strategy to build a secure and resilient rare earth magnet supply chain supported by diverse, secondary sources of rare earth feedstock. Rainbow's Phalaborwa project is a distinctive opportunity with the potential to reach the market in a relatively short timeframe. Owing to the phosphogypsum already being at surface, it requires no new mining and provides for a lower development risk profile than many greenfield projects," explains Neo president and CEO Rahim Suleman.

Suleman concludes that by combining Rainbow's expertise in recovering rare earths from phosphogypsum with Neo's decades of experience in rare earth separation, processing and magnet manufacturing allows both teams to jointly optimise the process from recovery through final separation, while providing customers with the secure, traceable supply chains that critical minerals markets increasingly demand.

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The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has reported a fourth mineworker having been killed at Sibanye-Stillwater's operations this year, which adds to the national mining fatality figure of 52 so far this year.

A mineworker was reportedly found with a severe head injury at the Beatrix gold mine, in the Free State, on September 21, where he worked for Sibanye directly as a winch operator.

AMCU says the cause of the incident remains unclear and it awaits the outcome of an investigation into all underlying and contributing factors.

The union reiterates its clarion call for better enforcement, particularly in respect of glaring malpractices when it comes to disparity between practices at mines themselves compared to those at subcontracting companies operating at mines. AMCU maintains that core mining work should be performed directly by employed mineworkers and that contractors should be used only for genuinely specialised work that requires expertise that is otherwise not reasonably available within the mine's permanent workforce.

"The continued outsourcing of core mining work can create gaps in accountability, supervision, training, experience and health and safety standards. The Mine Health and Safety Act must be amended to strengthen enforcement and hold mine bosses personally accountable when their failures expose mineworkers to preventable harm," says AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer says Valterra platinum is noting some big gains of Jameson cell deployment; he talks about Thakadu’s new nickel sulphate product for use in lithium-ion battery manufacturing; and he notes that the National Research Foundation and Mintek will be

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Reduction of 3 000-equivalent trucks on the road, a 70.5 MWh decrease in smelting electricity consumption, a 70 000 t cut in smelting CO2 emission, and a R203-million annual cost saving, which excludes revenue benefits from improved metal recovery.

"Big, big benefits," was the comment of Valterra Platinum executive head: processing operations Agit Singh when, during the company's value-chain media briefing covered by Mining Weekly, he provided at update on the gains of Jameson cell deployment.

Singh was outlining the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company's integrated processing route from ore to refined platinum group metals (PGMs), with emphasis on the downstream aspects of the PGMs business.

Valterra has in-depth insight into the mining and processing of Platreef in particular and pointed out the potential of sulphur dioxide pollution if abatement investment is not made as well as the need for the industry to take account of the link of Platreef to base metal, which can be a big opportunity or a considerable challenge.

On the Jameson cells front, Valterra has achieved major footprint reduction by replacing something like 44 conventional flotation cells with four Jameson cells at the Mogalakwena PGM mine's north concentrator.

The north concentrator has been such a success that a study into also introducing Jameson cells at Mogalakwena's south concentrator is well advanced.

"The south concentrator will go through what we did at the north concentrator, and we'll definitely see the same reduction," was Singh's confident forecast.

'Mass' and 'pull' were two other words that popped up constantly in relation to ability of Jameson cells to reduce the amounts of concentrate mass transported to the smelters without loss of grade or recovery; in fact, at times with a slight uptick in recovery.

Reduced mass pull points to less unwanted material being fed through the smelters amid Platreef ore's clay complexity requiring innovative treatment. By nature of the mineralogy, the clay competes with the PGMs to float.

To avoid this competition, sophisticated technology has been put into play that involves liberation, grinding, air injection and bubble creation. Then reagents are added – frothers cause form, activators activate the PGMs, deactivators deactivate what is not wanted, and then depressant. You've got to get the PGM to attach to bubble.

Then, as the bubble starts to move from the bottom of the cell to the top, it starts to upgrade itself. But at the same time, the PGMs are competing with all the other material.

"The Jameson cells' bubble particle contact is very efficient. It attaches itself to the particle. It moves up very quickly, and it's got a very short distance to travel before it becomes concentrate that we then call final concentrate,.

"Now, we're able to throw a lot of depressant at it, so we're able to depress all that unwanted material that we don't want to float, and PGM recovery remains," Singh explained.

But the only way that could be achieved was by using the Jameson cells, because if a lot of depressant entered into a normal conventional cell, the PGMs would be depressed.

Instead, the PGM particle holds onto the bubble, and a lot more depressant can be applied to diminish all the unwanted material.

Recovery benefit is also peeping through as the Jameson cells do their work to uplift performance.

SEVEN CONCENTRATORS

Overall information provided during the media briefing began with rocks bearing a few grams of sought-after material per ton making their way through concentrators and then advancing into smelters, converters, base metal refining, magnetic concentration, and precious metal refining.

Required to do all this is a major suite of assets that process Platreef, upper group ...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

US metals refining startup Nth Cycle has signed a $1-billion offtake agreement with Glencore to supply the commodities giant with lithium and other critical minerals extracted from recycled batteries, a deal that comes ahead of a planned public listing later this year.

The 10-year deal is among the largest in the US battery recycling sector as companies and governments race to secure domestic sources of critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and other clean energy technologies.

The agreement, which Reuters is first to report, was signed on Tuesday at Glencore's New York offices at a time when critical minerals are expected to be an area of focus at this week's United Nations General Assembly.

Massachusetts-based Nth Cycle's technology uses an electrochemical process to extract critical minerals from electronic waste, shredded batteries or mined rock.

As part of the deal, Glencore will sell Nth Cycle roughly 24 000 metric tons a year of shredded battery parts known as black mass for it to process, essentially supplying it the feedstock from which to extract the minerals.

Nth Cycle will then process that black mass and supply Glencore with lithium carbonate and a nickel-rich material known as mixed hydroxide product for 10 years. The exact volume will depend on the percentage of minerals in the black mass, which can vary depending on battery chemistry.

The deal value reflects metals pricing as of the second quarter of this year, the companies said.

Nth Cycle, which in August received a $100-million grant from the US Department of Energy, is planning to build a commercial facility somewhere in the US Southeast to process the minerals for Glencore as well as commodities trader Trafigura under the terms of a similar deal announced in March.

The location of the commercial facility is set to be announced later this year with operations beginning by 2029. That is a shift from earlier this year when Nth Cycle planned to build the facility in South Carolina and open by 2028.

The company now says it doubled the planned size of its facility due to the Energy Department grant and is now searching for a larger site.

"This is a true strategic partnership between the companies, and really just accelerates the overall critical minerals market here in the US," said Megan O'Connor, Nth Cycle's CEO.

Glencore, which is a large marketer of black mass and last year bought the assets of bankrupt battery recycler Li-Cycle, said it aims to "help close the loop in the supply of critical minerals for our US customers."

The Glencore agreement comes after Nth Cycle said in July it would go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Kensington Capital Acquisition, a deal that values the company at $585-million.

Nth Cycle had canceled a planned Series C funding round earlier this year, a move O'Connor said was tied to a desire for more funding from the public listing.

"We decided that going public was what we needed," said O'Connor. "I'd be surprised if you met a company that wasn't looking at multiple fundraising options at the same time."