Resource exploration and development company Altona Rare Earths will start fluorspar drilling and gallium exploration at its Monte Muambe fluorspar mine in Mozambique in September.  

Following the fundraise announced on 15 August, Altona has started mobilising resources to launch the drilling. The programme will comprise a minimum of 2,000m of drilling, and will provide sufficient samples and data to prepare a JORC-compliant fluorspar mineral resource estimate in due course.

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The planned average depth of the drillholes is only 45m as the fluorspar orebodies outcrop at surface level and are conducive for a shallow open pit operation.

Diamond drilling cores will also provide representative ore samples for final metallurgical studies,
which will inform processing plant parameters, ore blending strategies, ultimately providing key
inputs for the mine plan.

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 both resource definition and gallium evaluation.

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Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona, commented: “Rare earths, gallium, and fluorspar are all recognised as essential to defense, technological development, and decarbonisation of energy sources. With its diverse geology and commodities, Monte Muambe is uniquely positioned to contribute on all three fronts.”

“The combination of this development and of the strong backing of our investors gives us a high degree of confidence as we accelerate our work programmes.”

“Advancing the rare earths, gallium, and fluorspar work streams in parallel will maximise shareholder value while ensuring we remain aligned with global supply chain priorities.”