The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Instituto Geológico de Angola (IGEO), Canga Xiaquivuila, presented to the management of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas the potentialities of rare-earth elements in the alkaline complex of Serra da Neve, located in the province of Namibe , on the south coast of Angola.It is a complex of approximately 11 thousand km2 that, in addition to its potential in rare earths, also has phosphates, ornamental rocks and a compound of carbonatites and syenitic rocks.
“The objective of this study is to outline the area with the information already existing in the National Geology Plan, to promote it to future investors”, explained the Chairman of the Board of Directors of IGEO.
According to the study already prepared, the simple observation of the geological cartography and of the occurring lithology’s allows to place hypotheses about anomalies that can either lead to the knowledge of useful substances or constitute themselves industrial minerals such as apatite fluorite and sodalite. Canga Xiaquivuila also said that a viable short-term possibility "is to analyze the set of alkaline rock samples collected during the cartographic surveys for the 250k and 100k sheets".
With this, it would be possible to have a clear idea of the concentration of rare earths in the main lithologies of Serra da Neve and, thus, to envisage future prospecting campaigns based on solid geochemical data.
Dias Francisco, correspondent of Rough&Polished in Angola
