Mkango Resources Limited, a rare earth element and associated minerals exploration and development company, has started drilling works at Songwe Hill Rare Earths Project site in Phalombe.
In a statement, the firm said its team along with Malawian geotechnical engineering firm, Geoconsult Limited, and South Africa-based geotechnical engineering firm, Zutari Limited, are on site.
During the exercise, approximately 150 five-metre-deep pits and 22 20-metre drill holes will be dug to obtain samples that will confirm the soil and ground characteristics of the Songwe Hill project area.
Reads the statement in part: “The geotechnical samples are being tested and investigated in Malawi at the Geoconsult Limited laboratories in Lilongwe and will provide detailed geotechnical information required to finalise the detailed engineering design plans, prior to the completion of the definitive feasibility study in the first quarter of 2022.”
Mkango Resources Limited president Alexander Lemon said in the statement that the geotechnical investigation programme is employing and training about 120 Malawian skilled and unskilled personnel.
“We are proud to be working with leading Malawian companies such as Geoconsult and Torrent, a local Blantyre-based plant hire company,” he said.
Mkango is developing Songwe Hill in Phalombe, with a feasibility study targeted for completion within the first quarter of 2022.
The firm’s corporate strategy is to develop new sustainable primary and secondary sources of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium to supply the accelerating demand for critical materials.
Apart from the Songwe Hills project, Mkango also has an extensive exploration portfolio at Mchinji Rutile Project, Thambani Uranium Tantalum Niobium-Zircon Project and the Chimimbe Nickel-Cobalt Project.
Mkango Resources Limited is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company.
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