George Bennett
CEO: Rainbow Rare Earths
‘We only support the Western supply chain. So that means South Korea, Japan, Western Europe, US and so forth’
IF you are a conspiracy theorist then future geopolitical developments involving South Africa could make it “interesting” for George Bennett’s Rainbow Rare Earths project at Phalaborwa. Rare earths are critical for current and future high-tech uses such as magnets in consumer and industrial electronic applications as well as the defence industry and the burgeoning development of electric vehicles and wind turbines crucial for the hoped-for “carbon-free” society.
But this is a market dominated by China – which controls 70% of rare earth element supply – which last year started flexing its muscles by slapping export controls on rare earth processing technology and key associated minerals like graphite, gallium, germanium and antimony. So the West is scrambling to find alternative sources of supply. One of those is Rainbow Rare Earths, which has already secured backing from the US government’s Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Bennett made it clear at an investor presentation in October when he ruled out any suggestion of cooperation with the Chinese, declaring Rainbow was part of the “independent supply chain” and that a proviso in the DFC funding agreement was that Rainbow would only support the West.
But South Africa is part of BRICS, and the ANC – albeit we now have a Government of National Unity – is big mates with the Russians and the Chinese ... Away from political intrigue, Rainbow in December published an interim economic study fixing a $326m capital cost on its Phalaborwa project, which it estimates is the highest margin rare earths oxide project in development outside China.
LIFE OF GEORGE
The ultimate entrepreneur, Bennett is best known as the founder and CEO of engineering group MDM, which he sold to Amec Foster Wheeler in 2017 for $120m. But his background involves stockbroking as a partner in the JSE firm of Simpson McKie, which was taken over by HSBC. Bennett quit HSBC in 2003 and went gold mining, listing Shanta Gold on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. The roots of all this go back to his days as a student at the University of Natal in Durban, where he dropped out to get involved in the city’s “rag trade”, which was booming at the time.
