Join StockBox as we speak with Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona Rare Earths, reporting directly from the Monte Muambe site.
Cedric shares a major update on the company’s fluorspar breakthrough, revealing that recent metallurgical testing has achieved 93.62% CaF₂ concentrate, bringing Altona closer to producing high-value acid-grade fluorspar.
He also explains how gallium anomalies led to new fluorspar outcrop discoveries, expanding the project’s scope from 15,000 to potentially 50,000 tons/year over a 12-year life.
With on-site analysis, trenching, and drilling underway, Cedric outlines the next steps toward a JORC-compliant resource, refined flow sheet, and scoping study.
Highlights
· Initial flotation tests of fluorspar ore samples resulted in a concentrate at 93.62% CaF2, with impurities reduced to acceptable or near-acceptable levels for hydrofluoric acid production
· These results indicate that the fluorspar at Monte Muambe is more suitable for the development of acid-spar which is used in the production of hydrofluoric acid. This is a higher value product than the met-spar (used primarily as a flux in the steel industry) previously envisaged
· Altona will now advance its metallurgical testing program aimed at generating a flowsheet for an acid-spar production plant as well as product samples for evaluation by potential off-takers
· Ground proofing of gallium anomalies led to the discovery of new high-grade fluorspar outcrops, which could lead to higher resource estimates subject to further study
· Project development scope revised to reflect acid-spar production operation at a greater production capacity than originally anticipated
Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona, commented: “I am very pleased with the latest developments for the Monte Muambe fluorspar project, which result in an updated scope including a higher-value product (acid-spar) and a higher-production capacity objective.
“Work towards the development of a possible fluorspar mining operation at Monte Muambe will continue in parallel with the prefeasibility study for rare earths, and with on-going exploration for gallium, thus multiplying the opportunities to create value from this asset.”
