The Wigu Hill Project

The Wigu Hill Project is situated on a prominent ridge where high REE grades occur within a swarm of carbonatite dykes that intrude fenitised country rock gneisses. The dyke complex crops out over a 3km wide zone having a strike length of over 6km and the prominent topography suggests that these could be mined at a low strip ratio. The REE mineralogy is simple as the REE’s occur mainly as coarse bastnasite. The project lies 200km southwest of Dar Es Salaam, has good road access to the main highway near Morogoro, and is 7km from the Dar Es Salaam - Tazara railway line.

The Wigu Hill REE Project comprises 2 prospecting licenses covering 142km2 on which Montero secured an option to earn a 70% interest. Carbonatite dykes crop out over an elliptical area of 6.4 by 3.2km where historical rare earth oxide (REO) grades of 10% with associated uranium and phosphate concentrations have been reported. Carbonatite dykes host the REE and are typically 0.6-8.0m wide and have been traced over distances of over 700m. Historical values obtained from the larger dykes average 14.5% total REO (range 12.7-16.5%) and are dominated by the light rare earths (LREE): lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium constitute over 95% of the total. Minerals hosting the REE are predominantly bastnaesite although synchesite and parisite.

References

1. http://www.monteromining.com/tanzania.html

2. http://www.monteromining.com/projects/wigu.html

3. http://www.monteromining.com/projects/pdf/MONWiguHill-43101.pdf

4. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293747-d463462-Reviews-Amani_Nature_Reserve-Tanzania.html