Exploration company Altona says the Phase 2 exploration programme at its flagship Monte Muambe rare earths project, in Mozambique, is progressing on schedule for the completion of a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource statement by the first quarter of 2023 and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) by the second quarter of 2023.
Phase 2 exploration started at the end of April, with a 1 200 m drilling programme to investigate two new targets – Targets 3 and 4 – and to continue drilling on Target 1, which was identified in Phase 1 exploration.
Once this short phase of drilling is completed, Altona will start up to 6 200 m of resource drilling in August, which will enable it to finalise a maiden mineral resource estimate, a preliminary metallurgical study, a PEA and establish a monetary value for the asset.
“Our strategy for Monte Muambe is two-fold – to work to our schedule to define the orebodies and produce a resource estimate and PEA, which will define the value of the asset. Both of these aims are on track to be completed on time and within budget.
“As we continue with our exploration, we are finding a much larger homogeneous orebody than anticipated and, crucially, we are seeing significant total rare earth oxide grades, including high levels of neodymium and praseodymium – those rare earths critical in the production of many green technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines,” comments Altona CE Christian Taylor-Wilkinson.