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 reported on August 15 that it had received partial mineralogy and geochemistry results of gallium samples from Monte Muambe from inspection, verification, testing and certification company SGS Johannesburg.
Laboratory results on two fenite samples collected in June have confirmed previous gallium results obtained using the company's portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyser, with grades of 210 g/t and 269 g/t respectively.
Mineralogy results have also identified the presence of fluorspar in both gallium-containing samples – with 34% and 26.38% fluorite – equivalent to calcium fluoride (CaF₂) – respectively.

Fluorite has not been detected in the initial pXRF analyser assays because this device cannot analyse the chemical element fluorine.

Altona has added that results are very encouraging, as the fluorite content of these samples is significantly above the cutoff grade intended for the resource estimate to be prepared later this year – cutoff grades ranging from 15% to 20% CaF₂ will be tested.

The company will, therefore, consider these rocks as potential ore for the fluorspar project.

In addition, the samples contain more than 45% of K-feldspar, a mineral that previous metallurgical testing has shown can easily be separated from fluorite, auguring enhanced recoveries for this type of ore.

Mineralogical characterisation is continuing to confirm which minerals contain gallium. Owing to the chemical properties of this element, gallium is unlikely to be hosted in fluorite. During the flotation process, gallium concentration is, consequently, expected to increase in the tailings after fluorite is extracted.

Altona has said this might potentially enhance the economic and technical feasibility of recovering gallium from the flotation tailings.

The company has indicated that these results also provide additional validation of the use of gallium for fluorspar exploration, which resulted in the discovery of new fluorspar outcrops, announced on May 28, and assay results, announced on July 7. This further strengthens the company's confidence in increasing the fluorspar resource base through additional surface exploration and drilling planned this quarter.

Meanwhile, Altona has raised £507 450 comprising fundraise of £407 450 and a further warrant exercise notice of £100 000 to fund the activities at Monte Muambe to advance the fluorspar scoping study, including resource drilling and advanced metallurgical work. The funds will also support the Sesana copper/silver project, in Botswana, through environmental permitting, as well as initial geophysical surveys.

Altona Rare Earths reported on August 18 that the US government had re-engaged with the company on the possibility of providing funding support for the prefeasibility study on the Monte Muambe project.

A formal project proposal has now been submitted to the US Trade and Development Agency, and Altona anticipates material progress to be made over the coming weeks. This development aligns with its strategy to secure long-term partnerships across the critical raw materials value chain for Monte Muambe.

The company will continue to keep shareholders updated as discussions advance.

Following the successful fundraise announced on August 15, it has started mobilising resources to launch its fluorspar resource drilling at Monte Muambe in September.

Gallium exploration will run in parallel with the fluorspar drilling, taking advantage of synergies between the two work programmes. This dual approach is expected to yield cost savings while accelerating progress on the resource definition and gallium evaluation.

Altona's exploration team will continue ground-truthing gallium anomalies, with the potential to unlock further high-grade fluorspar discoveries, building on results announced earlier this year.

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.