Maputo, Feb. 10, 2026 (Lusa) - The United States government (US) intends to finance a rare earths project at Mount Muambe, an inactive volcano in Tete province, the third major US investment in natural resources in Mozambique since 2024.
In a market announcement made by Altona, to which Lusa had access on Tuesday, the resource exploration and development company, focused on critical raw materials in Africa, states that the US government, through the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), "has confirmed its intention to support" the project, although without specifying any figures.
According to Altona, Thomas Hardy, deputy director and director of operations at USTDA, confirmed the information on 8 February in Cape Town, South Africa, when he spoke at the high-level meeting on US support for critical mining projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2024, mining company Syrah announced the approval of $150 million (€125.9 million) in financing from the International Development Finance Corporation, a US government development finance institution, for operations at the Balama mine in northern Mozambique, which produces graphite for electric vehicle batteries, including for US factories.
Last year, the US EximBank, a state-owned bank that finances US exports, approved $4.7 billion (€3.9 billion) in support for TotalEnergies' Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) megaproject, also in Cabo Delgado.
"The USTDA's support aims to help define the technical and financial path for the development of Mount Muambe, focusing on the production of rare earth elements vital for high-strength permanent magnets, defence applications and energy transition technologies," explains Altona, adding that "it is subject to the signing of a formal grant agreement, which is currently being prepared".
It also notes that the company "expects to receive the results of its recent extensive fluorite and gallium drilling campaign soon," predicting that these results, and the resulting mineral resource estimate, "will demonstrate" that it represents a "viable mining project of significant interest."
For Altona's executive director, Cedric Simonet, quoted in the same information, this US commitment is "a powerful external validation of the strategic quality and economic potential" of the project, highlighting "the strong high-level interest" of the US "in developing an alternative and secure source of rare earths".
"This partnership is a clear endorsement of our progress in Mozambique, reinforces our common goal of moving forward with a project of growing strategic relevance, and highlights the role that Mount Muambe can play in building more resilient global supply chains for rare earths and fluorite," Simonet emphasised.
Altona announced in April 2025 that it had discovered minerals with a high gallium content at Mount Muambe, an inactive volcano in the province of Tete, in central Mozambique.
In a statement to the markets, Altona said that concentrations of up to 232 grams of gallium per tonne had been found, noting that it is a "rare and highly sought-after strategic metal" used in electronic and high-tech applications such as radars, light-emitting diodes and semiconductors.
Mount Muambe is a dormant volcano, 780 metres high, located east of Moatize in central Mozambique. It has an external diameter of six kilometres and a caldera about 200 metres deep, composed of carbonatites rich in blue and yellow fluorite, which in turn contain gallium.
The price of gallium is around $250 (€230) per kilogram, the London-listed company said, noting recent increases in this value in the context of a trade war between China and the United States.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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