Maputo, 2 Apr (AIM) – The London-based mining company Altona Rare Earths PLC announced on Tuesday the discovery of concentrations of up to 232 grams of gallium per tonne, at Mount Muambe, which is an inactive volcano 780 metres high, located in Moatize district, in the central Mozambican province of Tete.
Gallium is a rare and highly sought-after strategic metal, used in electronic and high-tech applications such as radar, light diodes and semi-conductors.
“The full extent of the gallium mineralization at the site, which is a potential rare earth prospect, remains unknown and will be assessed as part of the next fieldwork campaign, in which the potential recoverability of the gallium will be verified”, reads a statement from Altona.
Altona adds that it is awaiting the results of samples taken from the site, sent for analysis in Zimbabwe, a process that faced “logistical difficulties caused by the post-election instability in Mozambique, which has now subsided.”
“The results of these tests are expected during the course of April”, the document adds.
Cedric Simonet, Altona’s CEO, cited in the document, believes this discovery “is a positive development, which underpins potential and additional discoveries at Monte Muambe.”
“While current work on the potential for short-term fluorite production continues, we will initially carefully assess the possibility of recovering gallium as a by-product of rare earths and/or fluorite, and the potential extent of gallium mineralization at surface level”, he said.
According to the company, Mount Muambe has an external diameter of six kilometers and a caldera around 200 metres deep made up of carbonatites, rich in blue and yellow fluorite, which in turn contain gallium.
Gallium (atomic number 31 in the periodic table) is a soft, silvery metal that is solid at room temperature, but melts just above it. It is not found in nature, but can easily be obtained through smelting, as a by-product from zinc blende, iron pyrites, bauxite and germanite.
The abundance of gallium in the earth’s crust is about 16.9 parts per million.
(AIM)
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