Globe Metals & Mining have discovered virgin rare earth in Malawi. The discovery was made from a reconnaissance sampling program that it conducted at Mount Salambidwe in southern Malawi in south eastern Africa.
The program included 4 rock chip samples and 41 soil samples taken from the central western area of the alkaline ring complex. It mainly targeted the agglomeratic rocks in the region. The samples were taken late in 2010 and has shown the possibility of economic grade of rare earth and specialty metal mineralization.
The high positive value of rare earth oxides in the reconnaissance rock chip and soil sampling include 2.05% total rare earth oxides of dysprosium oxide power and 0.43% total rare earth oxides of Niobium pentoxide, Tantalum Pentoxide, and Zirconium oxide.
Michael Schultz, regional exploration manager at Globe Metals & Mining for Africa said that the reconnaissance program was by design, very limited, however, extremely successful in that it returned results that encourage further work. He added that the company was now planning an aggressive exploration program to address the potential for significant rare earth and specialty metal deposits.
Rare earth minerals have seen their prices soaring as the primary global of supplier of the resources, China, has cut down its supply. The Rare earth elements are required for many high tech industrial purposes and have a good market available. Should the company be able to tap into the source in an economically viable manner it will be ensured of profitable operations.