Name of the Project
Monte Muambe rare earths and fluorspar project.

Location
North-western Mozambique.

Project Owner/s
Junior exploration and critical minerals company Altona Rare Earths (51%).

Project Description
A scoping study has proposed the openpit mining of Target 1 and Target 4 at the Monte Muambe project over a life-of-mine of 18 years.

An estimated 750 000 t/y of ore is planned to be extracted and processed through a beneficiation plant to produce a rare-earth concentrate.

The beneficiation process will include crushing, milling and flotation.

The concentrate will be processed through a hydrometallurgical plant to produce an average of 15 000 t/y of mixed rare-earth carbonate.

The hydrometallurgical process will involve a weak acid gangue leach, followed by rare earths leaching and purification.

The mixed rare-earth concentrate product will be packaged and transported by existing road infrastructure to the Port of Beira, in Mozambique, for export.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $283.3-million and an internal rate of return of 25%, with a payback of 2.5 years.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital expenditure is estimated at $276.3-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Altona Rare Earths has signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) with an international critical metals industry group for potential strategic investment in the project, marking a significant step forward.

Representative ore samples have been sent to the potential partner for independent analysis as part of a technical review of project data.

Meanwhile, continued progress on the project, combined with the recent expansion of its scope, has catalysed strong interest from established participants in the European fluorspar market, and in Mozambique.

Altona is expecting to enter into another NDA with European entities operating in the fluorspar sector shortly, and has expressed that these agreements create a framework to assess potential collaboration across extraction, offtake and staged project-level funding.

Constructive and fast-moving exchanges of information are under way under these NDAs, with the company looking forward to updating the market as these discussions advance towards potential commercial agreements.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Altona Rare Earths business development, Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, tel +44 7795 168 157 or email ctw@altonaRE.com.