StockBox spoke to Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona Rare Earths, in this special feature on fluorspar.
- They discuss: Critical mineral demand: Fluorspar is vital for fluorine-based products—batteries, aluminum, refrigeration, and nuclear fuel.
- High-grade discovery: Monte Muambe hosts fluorspar bodies up to 90% grade, ideal for acid-grade production.
- Fast-track production: Scoping study due early 2026 to support Altona’s self-sustaining growth strategy.
News this week from the company provide an operational update on Monte Muambe’s fluorspar resource drilling and gallium mineralogy studies.
Highlights
· A multipurpose rig capable of both diamond drilling and reverse circulation drilling has been mobilised to site and will commence drilling shortly
· Mineralogy characterisation results on gallium-fluorspar ore samples confirm that gallium is contained in feldspar, with grades of up to 1,700 g/t Ga
· Mineralogy results confirm that during fluorspar recovery, gallium will report into the tailings, hence providing a potential two step pathway to recover both fluorspar and gallium
· Advanced metallurgical studies for the production of acid-spar will also assess the recovery of gallium from fluorspar tailings
Monte Muambe: Drilling Rig Mobilised, Ready to Spin
Altona is pleased to announce that, following its recent successful fundraise, a Hanjin track-mounted drilling rig has been mobilised to Monte Muambe. The rig is being taken to the first drilling location, on the Southern orebody the discovery of which was announced on 28 May 2025. This first hole is designed to intersect both the high-grade fluorspar ore and the adjacent low-grade fluorspar ore containing gallium, which will help understand the geometry, size and grade of both fluorspar and gallium mineralisation.
The Company proposes an initial programme of 2,000 meters of diamond and reverse circulation drilling which will support the preparation of a fresh fluorspar resource estimate, provide representative samples for advanced metallurgy, and allow the gathering of more geological data on associated gallium mineralisation.
Simultaneously, Altona’s exploration team is currently implementing a mapping and fluorine soil geochemistry programme which is expected to generate additional fluorspar drilling targets and to further expand the resource base.
Gallium Mineralogy Confirms a Pathway to Potential Recovery
Altona is pleased to announce that it has received Electron MicroProbe Analysis (“EMPA”) results from SGS South Africa on two gallium-bearing fenite samples from Monte Muambe. The results confirm that gallium is contained in feldspar, with average grades in the two tested samples of 700 and 400 g/t Ga respectively, and peak grades of 1,700 and 1,500 g/t Ga, respectively.
As announced on 15 August 2025, these samples also contain ore-grade levels of fluorspar. Previous flotation testing results have shown that feldspar (tracked through Si and Al assays) can easily be separated from fluorspar. These results confirm that, during fluorspar recovery via flotation, gallium will report into the tailings, hence providing a potential two step pathway to recover both fluorspar and gallium. Gallium recovery from the tailings remains to be tested, and advanced metallurgical studies for the production of acid-spar will also include the recovery of gallium from fluorspar tailings.
Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona, commented:
“I am very pleased with the rapid progress of our understanding of gallium occurrences, which we discovered only a few months ago, and the possible synergies between the fluorspar mine project and the gallium assessment programme. As we start fluorspar resource drilling program, I look forward to advancing swiftly through resource definition and engineering studies for the fluorspar mine, and confirming whether gallium can be recovered from fluorspar tailings.”
