{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Company Interviews","title":"Rainbow Rare Earths (LSE:RBW) - 'Undervalued?' Investment series, with George Bennett","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2337,"description":"Interview with George Bennett, CEO of Rainbow Rare Earths\nOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/rainbow-rare-earths-lserbw-us-govt-backed-miner-targets-2027-production-from-waste-processing-8115\nRecording date: 9th September 2026\nRainbow Rare Earths (LSE:RBW) is pursuing a structurally different route into rare earth supply than most of its peers. Rather than mining hard rock, the company reclaims rare earths from phosphogypsum - the waste residue generated when phosphate rock is processed into phosphoric acid for the fertiliser industry. Because the rare earth content in phosphate rock is too low to mine economically on its own, it has historically been discarded in gypsum waste stacks; Rainbow's proprietary process recovers it from that existing above-ground resource using leaching and ion exchange, avoiding the drilling, crushing and milling costs that dominate capital spending on conventional rare earth projects.\nThe company is advancing two projects built on this model. Phalaborwa, in South Africa, is the more advanced of the two, currently 75% through its definitive feasibility study, with a post-tax IRR estimated at 38% using December 2024 spot pricing (rising to a CEO-cited 40-45% at more recent pricing), an EBITDA margin of 70-75%, and capital costs of circa $325-350 million. Rainbow currently owns 85% of Phalaborwa, with an option to move to 100% next year. Uberaba, in Brazil, is a joint venture with The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS), in which Rainbow holds 49%. A March 2026 Economic Assessment put Uberaba's post-tax NPV10 at $916 million, IRR at 45%, average annual EBITDA at $217 million over a 30-year mine life, and payback at 1.7 years; a Pre-Feasibility Study for the project formally commenced in September 2026.\nManagement's central argument is that the market has not yet caught up with the combined earnings power of the two projects. CEO George Bennett points to a combined attributable EBITDA estimate of circa $300 million by 2030...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/1wv-MFlQAgnm-ca64e5kK4984dZB0os8-HJdRVsI74M/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzEzNTcyLzE2MjM5/NTQyMDctYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}