Altona Rare Earths plc has identified three large untested gallium soil anomalies from a review of its soil sampling database at the Monte Muambe rare earths project in northwest Mozambique.
TESTING
Drilling previously intercepted high grade gallium mineralisation, prompting the review to find new possible occurrences of gallium.
Altona said that the presence of gallium was more widespread at Monte Muambe than initially observed.
The anomalies will undergo further assessment, including in-fill soil sampling before trenching and reconnaisance drilling.
Recovery of gallium will be integrated in metallurgical studies for rare earth elements and fluorspar.
“I am very pleased with the soil geochemistry results, which clearly show the presence of a large gallium mineralised system at Monte Muambe, justifying a specific work programme,” added chief executive Cedric Simonet.
“These anomalies being untested, this opens the possibility that mineralised zones with higher grades than those observed so far exist, and that more exciting gallium discoveries will be made in the near future.
“The potential recovery of gallium as a co-product of rare earths, and as an additional source of revenue, is also very encouraging, and we have adjusted our on-going metallurgical testing programme to assess this.”