East Africa Rare Earth Project

The East Africa Rare Earth Project is a portfolio of strategic carbonatite tenements across the Tanzanian rare-earth belt, comprising licence positions at or adjacent to three globally recognised carbonatite complexes: Wigu Hill, Panda Hill Complex, and Nachendezwaya. The portfolio targets the critical rare earth elements (REEs) and niobium — mineral groups identified as strategically critical by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, with supply chains currently dominated by China.

The project sits adjacent to two of East Africa's most advanced critical-mineral deposits: Peak Rare Earth's Ngualla deposit (one of the world's highest-grade and largest rare earth projects, with a defined JORC resource exceeding 214 Mt at 2.15% REO) and Cradle Resources' Panda Hill niobium deposit (178 Mt at 0.50% Nb₂O₅).

Rare earth elements are a group of seventeen metals essential to modern technology. Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are core inputs to the permanent magnets used in electric vehicle drive-trains, wind turbines, and — critically for AURX's broader thesis — the actuators and motors in every humanoid robot. Niobium is used in high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels for pipelines, construction steel and aerospace superalloys, and is an emerging cathode material for lithium-niobium-titanium batteries.

Carbonatite complexes are the world's most economically important source of REEs and niobium. The three deposits targeted by AURX's portfolio — Wigu Hill, Panda Hill, Nachendezwaya — are classical alkaline-carbonatite intrusive complexes of Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic age, with mineralisation hosted in primary carbonatite lithologies and weathered regolith horizons overlying the parent intrusions.

Carbonatites are rare igneous rocks composed of more than 50% carbonate minerals, formed from low-viscosity magmas derived from the metasomatised sub-continental lithospheric mantle. They typically occur within alkaline intrusive complexes emplaced into stable cratonic margins during extensional tectonic events. The Tanzanian carbonatite province, associated with the East African Rift System, hosts more than twenty recognised carbonatite centres, of which Panda Hill, Wigu Hill, Ngualla and Nachendezwaya are the best characterised.

REE mineralisation in Tanzanian carbonatites occurs in three principal forms: primary igneous (bastnäsite, monazite, synchysite hosted in fresh carbonatite); secondary hydrothermal (rare earth-fluorocarbonate veins developed along fractures and late-stage alteration envelopes); and residual lateritic (supergene enrichment of REE in weathered regolith overlying the parent intrusion). The lateritic style is particularly favourable for low-cost open-pit extraction, as demonstrated at Ngualla and Mount Weld (Australia).

The strategic case for the East Africa Rare Earth Project rests on three pillars. First, proximity to defined world-class resources — all three priority carbonatite complexes lie within the same regional tectonic province as Ngualla, Panda Hill and Mrima Hill, with geological continuity supported by regional gravity and magnetic data. Second, structural urgency in Western rare earth supply chains — every major Western economy has launched critical minerals programmes since 2022, with direct procurement and offtake incentives available for non-Chinese supply. Third, the emerging humanoid robotics and AI-infrastructure demand curve, which AURX is uniquely positioned to supply via the integrated portfolio strategy.

The next-phase exploration programme across the portfolio comprises detailed geological mapping and structural interpretation of each priority carbonatite complex; surface and auger geochemistry targeting the lateritic regolith profile, which hosts the most readily extractable mineralisation; radiometric and gravity geophysical surveys — carbonatites are typically magnetically and radiometrically distinct from their host country rocks; and bulk mineralogical characterisation via QEMSCAN and electron microprobe analysis to support early-stage metallurgical planning.