Altona Rare Earths (LSE: REE) has submitted a formal proposal to the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) for a prefeasibility study of its Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique. The move comes amid growing U.S. interest in securing supply chains for critical minerals: the Department of Defense has already committed US$400 million to public– private partnerships with MP Materials, setting a floor price of US$110/kg for neodymium/praseodymium oxide. Against this
backdrop, Altona is positioning Monte Muambe to benefit from a rapidly expanding strategic market.
With funds raised in August, the company will begin a 2,000-metre drilling campaign in September 2025— about 50 holes, with an average depth of 45 meters and a maximum of 70 meters. The program will generate representative samples for metallurgical studies, plant parameters, and mine design, paving the way for Altona’s first JORC-compliant fluorite resource estimate. At the same time, the campaign will verify gallium anomalies, a critical input for semiconductors, enabling cost savings by running the two exploration tracks in parallel.
CEO Cedric Simonet emphasized that advancing rare earths, fluorite, and gallium simultaneously will give Monte Muambe a strong strategic position to supply defense, technology, and clean energy sectors. By the second half of 2025, Altona expects to deliver both a fluorite JORC estimate and initial gallium recovery results, milestones that could act as catalysts for attracting new investment. If successful, the project would place Mozambique on the map of critical mineral suppliers at a time of intense global competition for secure, diversified supply chains.