Altona Rare Earth to commence its fluorspar drilling at the Monte Muambe REE project in September

Altona Rare Earth has announced plans to begin its drilling programme at the Monte Muambe REE and fluorspar project located in north-western Mozambique. This drilling programme will involve an average of 2,000 meters of drilling, with an average depth of 45m (maximum depth of 70m). The samples and data collected will be used to prepare a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate for fluorspar. The fluorspar body is outcropping at the surface, making it suitable for a shallow open-pit operation.

This update follows Altona's July 2025 announcement, which confirmed fluorspar grades ranging from 69.72% to 93.31% CaF2, further underscoring the company's efforts to develop 50ktpy of acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) at Monte Muambe. Altona has announced that gallium exploration will take place alongside fluorspar drilling aiming to expedite overall project development.

This follows the receipt of partial mineralogy and geochemistry results for two gallium samples collected at the site in June 2025, which confirmed grades of 210 and 269 g/t, respectively. The results also revealed the presence of fluorspar in both gallium-containing samples, with levels of 34.00% and 26.38% CaF2.

The exploration of fluorspar alongside REE mineralisation at Monte Muambe mirrors developments at China’s Bayan Obo, the world’s largest rare earth deposit. Fluorspar has been produced as a by-product of REE mining since 2023, with production expected to ramp up to 800ktpy making it an important revenue stream.