Rainbow Rare Earths Starts Final Pilot Plant Phase at Phalaborwa as Rare Earth Prices Rebound

Rainbow Rare Earths ( (GB:RBW) ) has provided an announcement.

Rainbow Rare Earths has commissioned and started operations at a pilot plant in Johannesburg for the final phase of process test work on its Phalaborwa rare earths project in South Africa, which aims to become the first commercial operation to recover rare earth elements from phosphogypsum waste. The large-scale pilot will run through the first half of 2026, operating an optimised leach circuit and continuous ion exchange and impurity removal processes to generate feed for solvent extraction test work, refine product specifications for high-purity separated NdPr oxide and SEG+ products, and provide the detailed technical and cost data required to complete the Definitive Feasibility Study and secure third-party project finance. The latest flowsheet optimisations, including shorter leach times, fewer stages and reduced equipment requirements, are expected to lower capital and operating costs and reinforce Phalaborwa’s position at the bottom of the industry cost curve, positioning Rainbow to benefit from a strengthening rare earths market and heightened Western efforts to diversify supply chains amid Chinese export controls.

The most recent analyst rating on (GB:RBW) stock is a Hold with a £16.50 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Rainbow Rare Earths stock, see the GB:RBW Stock Forecast page.

Spark’s Take on GB:RBW Stock

According to Spark, TipRanks’ AI Analyst, GB:RBW is a Neutral.

The score is held down primarily by a weak financial profile (pre-revenue, ongoing losses, and cash burn) and soft technical momentum (below key moving averages with a negative MACD). Positive corporate developments around de-risking and improving project economics provide some offset, but valuation remains difficult to justify on earnings given continued losses.

To see Spark’s full report on GB:RBW stock, click here.

More about Rainbow Rare Earths

Rainbow Rare Earths is a rare earth elements developer focused on creating an independent and ethical supply chain for materials critical to the green energy transition. The company is pioneering the first commercial recovery of rare earths from phosphogypsum, a by-product of phosphoric acid production, enabling quicker and lower-cost development than traditional hard rock mining. Its key projects are Phalaborwa in South Africa and Uberaba in Brazil, targeting high-value rare earth oxides such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium for use in permanent magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines, defence and emerging technologies.

Average Trading Volume: 1,455,854

Technical Sentiment Signal: Buy

Current Market Cap: £119.5M

For an in-depth examination of RBW stock, go to TipRanks’ Overview page.