Pensana has provided an update on the beneficiation test work on samples from the Sulima West deposit, located on the Coola exploration licence 75 km north of Longonjo in Angola. The test work aims to determine whether the mineralogy at Sulima West can be upgraded onsite before transporting it to Longonjo for further processing.
The initial results from the samples tested are very encouraging, showing the potential for separation and upgrading to a high-grade concentrate using simple magnetic and gravity processes. Once the test work is finalised, a drill programme will be undertaken to delineate the extent of the near-surface mineralisation over the six-hectare target area at Sulima West.
The composite laterite sample graded 8.4% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO), with 80% comprising magnetic iron and manganese oxides and 10% Rare Earth Element (REE) rich monazite. Magnetic and gravity separation tests have been commissioned with the aim of producing a 50% TREO concentrate suitable for treatment at Longonjo. The apatite-maghemite sample graded 22% P2O5 and was upgraded to 42.6% P2O5 using magnetic separation. Test work has been commissioned to produce a commercially saleable phosphate concentrate of over 40%.
Grant Hayward, Pensana’s exploration manager, commented that these early results indicate the potential for low-cost physical beneficiation of the Sulima West ore at the site, feeding the Longonjo processing plant with a high-grade rare earth concentrate.
Pensana is developing one of the world’s largest and highest-grade magnet metal rare earth deposits at Longonjo, which is located adjacent to the Lobito rail Corridor, approximately 60 km west of the provincial capital of Huambo in central Angola. The project under development includes an open pit, concentrator and recovery plants, tailings storage facility, process water supply, bulk power supply, mine infrastructure, workshops, offices, accommodation village, recreational facilities, and other associated infrastructure.
The Longonjo operation will extract, concentrate, calcine, and chemically refine the free dig material to produce a high-value mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) to be transported 273 km to the Atlantic port of Lobito for export. Site infrastructure works commenced in 2023, with main construction activities scheduled to start in 2024.
