Modern Mining December 2023

Monte Muambe Scoping Study results

Andrada Mining commences Brandberg West exploration programme

LSE-listed Altona, a resource explora tion company focused on Rare Earths in Africa, has announced a positive outcome of its Scoping Study for its Monte Muambe rare earths project in northwestern Mozambique. The Monte Muambe Scoping Study takes into con sideration open-pit mining of Target 1 and Target 4, at an LoM strip ratio of 1.6, over a period of 18 years. An anticipated 750 000 tonnes of ore per annum will be extracted and processed through a ben eficiation plant to produce a Rare Earths concentrate. The beneficiation process will include crushing, milling and flotation. The concentrate will then be pro cessed through a hydrometallurgical plant to produce an average of 15 000 tonnes of MREC per annum. The hydro metallurgical process will involve a weak acid gangue leach, followed by rare earths leaching and purification. The MREC product would be packaged and transported via existing road infrastruc ture to the port of Beira, in Mozambique, for export. The Scoping Study demon strates the potential for Monte Muambe to become a viable mining operation. Considerable upside potential has been identified in the Scoping Study and will be developed further in the Prefeasibility Study (PFS), the company said. The project is now entering Phase 3, which upon completion will allow the company to increase its holding to 70%, with the key deliverable being the PFS.

Preliminary PFS activities started in July this year, in the form of in-fill drilling at Target 4 and these will ramp up over the course of the coming months, with additional exploration, planning and con sultant services procurement activities, as well as a strong focus on additional metallurgical test work. The company also intends to apply for a mining conces sion during Phase 3. 

Andrada CEO Anthony Viljoen.

Andrada Mining, an AIM-listed African technology metals mining company, has com menced an initial exploration programme for the Brandberg West exploration licence. CEO Anthony Viljoen commented: “The exploration programme will enable us to determine the extent of the mineralisation in and around the Brandberg West mine. The project provides an exciting opportunity for us to duplicate the development process we have successfully implemented at Uis, by taking it from an abandoned historical opera tion, into a fully-fledged producing mine. Brandberg West will solidify Andrada’s tech metals portfolio by potentially adding critical metals revenue streams of tungsten, and copper as a by-product. We look forward to continuing with our exploration programme, and aimed at re-establishing the historical Brandberg West Mine.” 

Altona announces a positive outcome of its Scoping Study for its Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique.

December 2023  MODERN MINING  5