Altona Rare Earths plc reported “significant” total rare earth oxide (TREO) grades including high levels of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) at Monte Muambe project in Tete Province, Mozambique.
TARGET DRILLING
Since February, Altona has collected and assayed more than 1,700 soil samples, refining the orebodies boundaries and identifying four new, rare earth element (REE)-rich drilling targets.
Results have revealed four new drilling targets for REE and Niobium.
Phase II exploration drilling for 1,200m is investigating two new targets (3 and 4) and continue drilling on the best of its Phase I identified targets (target 1).
At target 1, the company drilled five reverse circulation (RC) holes for 415.45m where preliminary results released today show best TREO intercept of 7.85% and best Nb2O5 intercept of 1.70%.
Additionally, target 1’s length has extended from 100m to 700m.
Drilling has not encountered the foot-wall of orebody but has encountered mineralisation to 70m below surface and is open at depth.
A total of five holes for 417m have been drilled at target 4 with best TREO intercept of 6.37%.
The width of the target is 170m with mineralisation encountered to 80m below surface, and is open at depth and towards southeast.
Altona is currently preparing access to its newly discovered target 9 in the southern zone of the carbonatite, which also shows a high potential for REE.
A JORC 2012 compliant exploration target estimate on targets 1, 4 and possibly 9 is due for completion in July.
MRE
Phase II of the company’s exploration drilling, for 6,200m on PL7573L, is due to start in August 2022.
Results will contribute to the inaugural JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) by Q1 2023 and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) due by Q2 2023
CRUCIAL
Chief executive Christian Taylor-Wilkinson said that Altona’s strategy was on course to define the orebodies and produce an MRE and PEA to define Monte Muambe’s value.
“As we continue with our exploration, we are finding a much larger homogeneous orebody than anticipated and, crucially, we are seeing significant TREO grades, including high levels of NdPr.”