Globally in-demand rare earth elements discovered in Malawi

by MAVHUTO BANDA
LILONGWE, (CAJ News) – THE confirmation of rare earth elements (REEs) in southern Malawi positions the country as a global player in the areas of electronics and gadgets, green energy and technology, as well as defence.

Chilwa Minerals early Friday confirmed REE mineralisation hosted in clays directly beneath its Mposa heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposit.

This REE-bearing horizon sits immediately beneath the company’s established Mposa heavy mineral sands deposit, raising the prospect of a dual-commodity system with benefits including shared infrastructure, permitting and capital costs, among others.

“These are exciting results for Chilwa,” Cadell Buss, Chilwa Minerals’ Managing Director, said.

He said the company had set out to test whether the clays beneath the Mposa mineral sands deposit carried rare earths, and the assays had come back confirming widespread REE mineralisation averaging 525 ppm TREO and consistently above 500 ppm across an 8-kilometre corridor.

In mining and geology, 525 ppm TREO represents the concentration of rare earth materials in a given sample. A single ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of material per kilogram of rock or soil (1 mg/kg).

Therefore, 525 ppm means there are 525 milligrams of rare earths in every 1 kilogram of dirt.

“Clearly there is a lot of work ahead of us, notably leachability test work. However, the results are especially compelling in terms of co-location with our mineral sands deposits. It would essentially be a dual-commodity mine with heavy mineral sands at the surface and rare earths in the clays beneath,” Buss explained.

REEs are hailed as the “vitamins” of modern industry, uniquely capable of making technology smaller, faster, stronger and more energy-efficient.

Experts describe them as silent enablers of modern technology and, without them, electric vehicles would be too heavy to be practical and smartphones would be too thick, with low-resolution screens.

Chilwa is an Australian-based, southern Malawi-focused critical minerals explorer.

Malawi is consistently ranked as one of the world’s poorest countries.

– CAJ News