London-listed Altona has confirmed a new drilling programme on the Monte Muambe rare earths project, in Mozambique, will start on July 15.
The company has contracted Spartan Drilling Services for a third consecutive season to conduct in-fill and down-dip drilling, particularly at Target 4.
Target 4 is one of the two orebodies included in the maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the project.
Exploration drilling at Target 3, which was discovered by Altona in 2021 but has not yet been explored, will determine the potential of increasing the project’s resource base for high-grade ore.
Drilling from the 2022 campaign found high-grade rare-earth zones totalling 6.5-million tons grading 2.47% of total rare earth oxides. The 2022 drill campaign was focused on on-strike and down-dip extensions of the Target 1 high-grade zone.
Some of these results will be included in an updated MRE that Altona intends to publish, along with a scoping study on the project.
"The 2023 drilling campaign will specifically aim at expanding the high-grade orebodies in order to increase the resource base.
“Altona's strategy is to focus its exploration on high-grade ore to fast-track the project towards production and help meet the ever-increasing gap between magnet metals supply and demand,” comments CEO Cedric Simonet.