Announcement • May 08
Altona Rare Earths Plc Announces JORC-Compliant Mineral Resource Estimates For Fluorspar And Gallium At Monte Muambe Project
Altona Rare Earths Plc announced JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimates for fluorspar and gallium for the Monte Muambe project. JORC MRE: 3.48 million tons at 20.6% CaF2 for 716,000 tons of CaF2 contained. Initial base case mine life: 9.5 years at 50,000tpa acid-spar. Additional exploration target (Kudu - up to 3,200,000 tons of CaF2 contained) and additional exploration potential at Jambire and Jambire Mn targets (not drilled yet). Results justify initiating other fluorspar scoping study workflows. JORC MRE: 11.73 million tons at 54.7 g/t Ga2O3 for 641 tons of Ga2O3 contained. MRE tonnage significantly exceeds expectations, underpins potential for a large-scale gallium deposit. One of very few published gallium MRE worldwide and the first on a carbonatite deposit. Less than 20% of gallium soil anomaly drilled to date - strong tonnage upside potential (over 40 million tons). Commercial viability subject to on-going gallium extraction testing in Canada and Poland. No direct global peer comparison exists. Both MREs were prepared by Rock and Stock Investments (Pty) Ltd, a geological consultancy company based in Cape Town, South Africa, in accordance with the JORC code. Fluorspar and gallium MREs were prepared for the Fluorite Zone (including its Southern Extension), and for Python. A fluorspar exploration target estimate was prepared for the Kudu target. Zone Category Tonnage (Mt)Grade (CaF2 %) Contained CaF2 (t) Fluorite ZoneMeasured1.5220.7%314,000Fluorite ZoneInferred1.4820.2%299,000Fluorite ZoneTotal3.0020.5%613,000PythonInferred0.4921.2%103,000PythonTotal0.4921.2%103,000AllMeasured1.5220.7%314,000AllInferred1.9720.5%402,000AllTotal3.4820.6%716,000. Assuming a metallurgical recovery of 65% and a concentrate grade of 97.5% CaF2, the contained CaF2 tonnage is sufficient to produce 50,000 tons per year of acid-grade concentrate for a period of 9.5 years. These results therefore justify proceeding with the other workstreams of the fluorspar scoping study (metallurgy, mine plan, engineering studies and financial modelling). Significant potential remains to increase the fluorspar resource at Monte Muambe. Reconnaissance drilling fences at Kudu were sufficient to define an exploration target estimate, with up to 3.2 million tons of CaF2 contained. In addition, the Jambire and Jambire Mn targets, which display marked fluorine-in-soil anomalies and fluorspar outcrops, have not been drilled yet and are expected to provide additional tonnage. TargetCategoryTonnage (Mt)Grade (CaF2 %)Contained CaF2 (Mt)KuduExploration Target9.9-14.68%-22%0.8-3.2. Further drilling is expected to lead to a material increase in the MRE, potentially sustaining an up to 100,000 tons per year operation. Such drilling will not take place immediately, but rather as part of the project's definitive feasibility study, once project viability has been confirmed by the on-going scoping study. ZoneCategoryTonnage (Mt)Grade (g/t Ga2O3)Contained Ga2O3 (t)Fluorite ZoneInferred9.2953.3496PythonInferred2.4459.7146AllInferred11.7354.7641. The gallium MRE confirms that gallium mineralisation extends beyond the fluorspar ore envelope and into adjacent fenite zones, defining a broad mineralised zone around the perimeter of the carbonatite intrusion. As a result, the tonnage of the gallium resource is much higher than that of the fluorspar resource. The gallium MRE so far covers less than 20% of the total strike length of gallium-in-soil anomalies, indicating strong upside potential. The Board believes that the potential to increase the gallium MRE to a level of over 40 million tons is significant. The Monte Muambe gallium MRE is one of very few code-compliant gallium estimates ever published worldwide, and the first for a carbonatite-hosted occurrence. Gallium is usually reported as a potential by-product of bauxite, zinc ore, lithium, and in Western Australia as a co-product of rare earths in saprolite deposits. All these deposits have very different mineralogical and metallurgical characteristics and cannot be directly compared to Monte Muambe. The publication of the gallium MRE positions Altona to the forefront of gallium exploration and development in a rare-earths and fluorspar carbonatite context. The progress achieved by the Company underpins the importance of carrying out specific gallium metallurgical testing to test the possibility of (1) producing a concentrate enriched in gallium and (2) extracting gallium from this concentrate. This metallurgical testing is currently on-going in Canada and Poland respectively, using cutting edge technology, and will inform the next steps of the gallium exploration program. Fluorspar metallurgical testing is currently progressing in South Africa. This workstream is an essential component of the fluorspar scoping study, as it will determine process parameters, process flowsheet (hence plant capex), and plant operating costs. Additional scoping study workstreams including engineering and mine planning and design are now being initiated. The fluorspar metallurgy and scoping study are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026. On-going gallium metallurgy test work will confirm whether a potentially viable pathway to gallium recovery exists. Heavy rare earths workstreams announced on 14 April 2026 (mineralogy, drilling sample assays, metallurgy) are progressing. The Board expects that an updated MRE for heavy rare earths associated to fluorspar mineralisation will be published later this year. Gallium and heavy rare earths' behaviour is already being monitored as part of the fluorspar metallurgical studies. Results from the above workstreams will be integrated, if necessary, in the fluorspar scoping study. The Company will continue updating investors on the progress of these activities.
