Mkango’s Songwe Hill in Malawi is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

Mkango’s Songwe Hill in Malawi is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

Mkango Resources is advancing the Songwe Hill REE project in Malawi  

Last week Mkango Resources announced that their Songwe Hill Rare Earths (REE) project in Malawi has been designated as a strategic project by the European Commission under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).

Strategic project status confirms the importance of Songwe in supplying REEs to supply chains across Europe, North America and other markets.

Based on its Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) Songwe has an expected mine life of 18 years and will produce a Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC), containing about 1,953 tonnes per annum of neodymium/praseodymium oxides and 56 tonnes per annum of dysprosium/terbium oxides for the first five years of full production.

Highly important critical projects  

Mkango’s Pulawy Separation Project in Poland, which will process the MREC from Songwe, was first designated a strategic project by the European Union under the CRMA in March 2025, along with 47 other projects across the world.

Last week the EU released a list of 13 more international projects including Songwe, one of only two rare earths projects.

Songwe has been assessed by the EU to be highly important to the EU’s supply security of strategic raw materials and possesses viable technical feasibility within reasonable timeframes.

Strategic status offers key advantages

Under the CRMA, the project is required to be implemented in a sustainable manner, minimising environmental and social impacts.

Obtaining strategic project status offers key advantages for developers, significantly facilitating and accelerating the development of strategic raw materials projects within and outside the EU.

Songwe is one of the few rare earth projects to have advanced to the NI 43-101 compliant DFS stage. The proposed Pulawy separation facility site is located in a Special Economic Zone in Poland adjacent to the EU’s second largest manufacturer of nitrogen fertilisers, and features established infrastructure, access to reagents and utilities on site.

Image: Southward oblique view of Songwe Hill with exploration access roads and camp (on right at foot of hill), showing drill collars in yellow (2011–2012) and red (2018). Image from 2016. Image credit: Mkango Resources.

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Mkango’s Songwe Hill in Malawi is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week