The Malawi Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) has approved the environmental, socia,l health impact assessment (ESHIA) for dual-listed Mkango’s flagship Songwe Hill rare earths project.
The ESHIA is a fundamental requirement for the company to be granted a mining licence.
“The approval of the ESHIA for the Songwe Hill rare earths project is a major achievement for Mkango and Malawi’s first rare earth mining project,” commented Mkango president Alexander Lemon.
He thanked the MEPA and government for their ongoing support of the project.
“We look forward to the mining licence and MDA [mining development agreement] being approved in the coming weeks,” said Lemon.
The Malawi Ministry of Justice has appointed a London-based international law firm with mining expertise to carry out a final review of the MDA.
Aim- and TSX-V-listed Mkango said in July last year that Songwe Hill is one of the very few rare earths projects worldwide to have reached the definitive feasibility study (DFS).
The DFS envisages Songwe as a standalone project selling mixed rare-earth carbonates, as opposed to separated rare-earth oxides.
The processing capacity is about one-million tonnes a year of ore to produce an average of 5 954 t/y of total rare-earth oxides in mixed rare-earth carbonate for the first five years, and 4 081 t/y of total rare-earth oxides in mixed rare-earth carbonate from years 6 to 18.