Minbos Resources Limited (ASX: MNB) last week announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IDFC), which will work to develop and grow the Small Holder Farmer market in Angola.

The IFDC is an international non-for-profit organisation, dedicated to scientific innovations that increase global food production, protect the environment and empower Small Holder Farmers.

The organisation strives to improve the lives and productivity of Small Holder Farmers, and does so through running country-scale agricultural projects across Africa. These projects introduce farmers to improved agricultural practises, fertiliser technologies and facilitation of market access.

As crop yields grow in Sub-Saharan Africa, so too does the demand for key ingredients of food production such as fertiliser.

A severe demand for reliable sources of fertiliser is imminent, with fertiliser consumption expected to almost double in the next 10 years in Africa.

Minbos has worked in partnership with the IFDC for several years, most notably to help develop the company’s Cabinda Phosphate Product, which included developing market demand in one of the most prospective fertiliser regions globally.

Developing food security in Africa

Minbos is building a nutrient supply and distribution business that stimulates food security in Angola and the broader Congo Basin.

This project has the potential to impact the whole country by boosting fertiliser production and food security.

Indeed, the new MOA with IFDC provides the platform to develop a joint proposal for a multi-year project designed to support the development of the local fertiliser market in Angola.

Angola is one of the world’s great untouched agricultural regions, possessing over 35 million hectares of arable land, high rainfall and some of the lowest rates of fertiliser use globally.

Minbos hopes to leverage the IFDC’s innovative research and market expertise to identify sustainable solutions for soil and plant nutrition for the benefit of Small Holder Farmers, local communities and the environment.

Utilising strategic partners, the IFDC works with national and private parties to create or expand Small Holder fertiliser demand in parts of Angola.

Productivity gains are predicted to cause marketable crop surpluses, encouraging additional farmer investment in fertilisers.

More than four million Small Holder Farmers are expected to be reached by the IFDC Angola project, which will be underpinned by Minbos’ fertiliser production.

The Cabinda Phosphate Project will commence production at 50,000tpa.

Given the large Small Holder Farmer market in Angola and the IFDC’s strong record of delivering high-impact projects which boost fertiliser usage, demand is expected to exceed the nameplate capacity of 150,000tpa.

Commenting on the MOU, Minbos CEO Lindsay Reed said, “As the Company looks to enter production in early 2022, securing market offtake through a program that unlocks value for local Small Holder Farmers and government stakeholders, as well as Minbos shareholders, is key to our successful collaboration.

“This first step in developing a project to establish a new market in Angola marks another milestone for Minbos as we look towards production in early 2022.”

After completing the required heritage clearance survey, and securing a reverse circulation (RC) drill rig for its maiden drill programme at its Mt Maitland high-grade gold project in Western Australia, Red Mountain Mining Limited (ASX: RMX) is set to start drilling.

The drilling program is planned for 18 holes for approximately 1300 metres and is scheduled to commence in the first week of November.

Historical mining delivered an average production grade of 19 g/t gold and the company expects there could be early stage share price catalysts on the horizon should the program go well.

RMX’s project is in close proximity to the $1.1 billion Westgold Resources Fortunum Gold Mine and its Bluebird Gold Mine to the south. It is also near the $800.3M capped Sandfire’s Monty Gold Mine and its Degrussa Copper Gold Mine.

RMX acquired the Mt Maitland project, which lies within the prolific Murchison Goldfields in July this year and is encouraged by a significant gold nugget found while prospecting within the Mt Maitland tenure.

The nugget points to the potential high-grade nature of the mineralisation at the Mt Maitland Project.

The Mt Maitland Project came with multiple drill-ready targets and historic production which averaged 19g/t Au.

Outstanding results from historic exploration at Mt Maitland include:

• gold-in-soils: peak 2,724 ppb, anomalies over 13 kilometres of strike
• rock chips: up to 62g/t Au, 8.8% Cu and 290g/t Ag channel sampling: 2.50m @ 22.7 g/t Au and 0.75m @ 61.8 g/t Au
• Drill results include 13m @ 2.53 g/t from 9m, 2m @ 1.53 g/t from 13m

During the heritage survey, additional geological mapping was conducted which has assisted RMX to vector this maiden drill program.

Rare earth pick up

RMX is also in the throes of acquiring a new rare earths/nickel-cobalt project.

The company reached agreement with ARD Group (ARD), the vendors of the Mt Mansbridge heavy rare earths project, to favourably restructure the transaction that was voted down by shareholders in March 2020.

The Mt Mansbridge Project consists of three West Australian tenements containing targets prospective for HREE and nickel-cobalt.

Located in the Kimberly region of Western Australia, the project area is approximately 130 kilometres south-east of the township of Halls Creek and consists of three contiguous granted exploration licenses E80/5111, E80/5229 and E80/5413 which combined cover a total area of 280 square kilometres.

As indicated below, the tenements lie approximately 40 kilometres from Northern Minerals’ (ASX:NTU) flagship Browns Range project.

Shares in Northern Minerals have doubled in the last four months.

The project area has been subject to exploration activities since the 1970s, primarily for uranium, gold and diamonds which were all unsuccessful.

The presence of the REE mineral xenotime in the Killi Killi Prospect has been overlooked and RMX now see the opportunity to capitalise on this and determine whether there is an economically viable concentration of REEs.

As part of funding the exploration program at Mt Mansbridge, Red Mountain has received firm commitments to raise $360,000 (before costs) via a share placement to professional and sophisticated investors.

The Placement will be undertaken at 1.2 cents per share and is subject to shareholder approval.

The company is also encouraged by recent activity in the rare earths sector.

The $1.5 billion takeover bid for Lynas Corporation by Wesfarmers Limited (ASX: WES) and the recent speculation that China may restrict further material to the US has once again seen a surge in Rare Earth prices and renewed market interest and investor sentiment back to the sector.

With China currently responsible for more than 80% of global supply of rare earths, there are supply chain concerns as Beijing could use its dominant position as a rare earths exporter to the US as leverage in the trade dispute with the sector being the next front in the trade war.

This has resulted in a strong global interest in the identification and development of non-Chinese sources of rare earths to reduce the dependence on supply from China.

The future supply of heavy rare earths is critical in the development of high-tech applications and high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines.

The crackdown by Chinese authorities on the mining of ionic clay deposits in Southern China for environmental reasons, the lack of substitutes along with very few significant sources of heavy rare earths outside of China, has resulted in a favourable outlook for the commodities.

Other projects

Red Mountain has a number of other projects at various stages.

A preliminary groundwork exploration programme has been designed for prospective regions within the granted Koonenberry tenement EL8997, with land access agreements currently in the process of being finalised.

The Koonenberry Gold Project covers approximately 660 square kilometres, and is located in a geologic setting considered analogous to the prolific Victorian Goldfields located in south-eastern Australia.

The Koonenberry Gold Project adjoins Manhattan Corporation’s (ASX:MHC) Tibooburra Gold Project where Manhattan announced a new high-grade gold discovery in June.