About
This is the space to introduce visitors to the business or brand. Briefly explain who's behind it, what it does and what makes it unique.
This is the space to introduce visitors to the business or brand. Briefly explain who's behind it, what it does and what makes it unique. Share its core values and what this site has to offer.Â
Geology
The Monte Muambe minerals are associated to a carbonatite intrusion formed during the early Cretaceous Period (~130-135 million years ago), at a time dinosaurs roamed at the surface of the Earth.
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Carbonatites are a rare type of lava made of carbonate minerals. There are several other carbonatites in Mozambique, including Xiluvo, Evate, and Cone Negose, some of which host mineral deposits. The only active (producing molten lava) carbonatite volcano in the world is the Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.
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The Monte Muambe carbonatite intrusion has a diameter of about 3km at surface level. Mineral deposits are not located everywhere but only in specific parts of the intrusion, which were discovered through prospecting done by MMM since 2021 using state-of-the-art equipment and technologies.
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The intrusion outcrops in a 4km diameter basin formed by a circular ridge, well visible on satellite images. While this edifice resembles a volcano, it is actually an erosion feature resulting from the presence of a rim of indurated sandstones around the intrusion. The original volcano was eroded away millions of years ago, and the remaining intrusion corresponds to its root.
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Carbonatite intrusions often contain a variety or minerals, but not all of them can be mined. Whether a specific mineral can be mined or not depends on its concentration, on the complexity and cost of the operations necessary to extract it, on its market and selling price, and on the logistics costs to bring the products to the market.
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At Monte Muambe, MMM is focused on the development of the fluorspar and rare earths deposits. MMM is also assessing the possible viability of gallium occurrences it discovered in 2025. Other identified minerals such as barite, niobium, manganese and phosphates are in too low concentrations to be mineable in present conditions.
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At Monte Muambe, rare earths minerals, as well as fluorspar, are of very small size and hardly visible to the naked eye. The art of concentrating, separating and recovering minerals from the ore is called metallurgy. Rare earths metallurgy is extremely complex and requires specific technologies. The same applies to Gallium, which is invisible to the naked eye, and for which MMM is currently developing new extraction technologies.