Phase 1 assay results from rare earth elements (REE) mineral exploration company Altona Rare Earths’ Monte Muambe light REE project, in Mozambique show significant REE levels across multiple targets, the company announced in May.

Significant neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) levels were identified.

Individual intercepts with up to 7.24 total rare-earth oxides and up to 1.21% NdPr oxides were also identified.

Out of the six targets drilled, four have significant REE mineralisation and warrant follow-up, with two targets being new discoveries.

NdPr are the key metals used in the manufacture of permanent magnets for the drivetrains for electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Monte Muambe is a 4-km-diameter circular carbonatite intrusion located in Tete province, in north-west Mozambique, held under prospecting licence 7573L.

Altona began an initial drilling programme in October 2021, focusing on six target areas, drilling a total meterage of 590 m diamond drilling (DD) in 5 holes and 2 541 m reverse circulation (RC) in 38 holes.

The company had 705 DD samples and 974 RC samples, including quality assurance/quality control samples, assayed by certification companies in South Africa and Australia.

Phase 2 Programme

Phase 2 groundwork began in March 2022 and included additional soil sampling and ground geophysics to identify potential new targets.

Drilling equipment was mobilised at the start of May to perform scout drilling (1 200 m RC) and resource drilling (6 800 RC), with a phase of metallurgical testing at the end of 2022; all of which will be used to produce a maiden mineral resource estimate and a preliminary economic assessment.

Alton chief executive Christian Taylor-Wilkinson commented: “Our goal is to fill a significant gap in the global REE supply chain as demand for NdPr and the other critical metals continues to rise. “This early success at Monte Muambe, together with our developing African infrastructure, increases Altona’s opportunity to become a serious partner to any of the major manufacturers which rely upon a sustainable supply of critical rare earths metals.”