MRG, an Australian mineral exploration company, has been granted a heavy mineral sands (HMS) exploration licence for Corridor North 10779L in Mozambique.

This licence will target the extension of MRG’s Koko Massava deposit in the south and the Dingsheng minerals corridor sands mining operation in the north-west.

The granting of the Corridor North 10779L licence follows the Adriano 11002L rare earth elements (REE) exploration licence.

The Corridor North 10779L licence covers 6,421.43ha and sits next to the company’s Corridor Central (11142C) licence, which includes the Koko Massava, which is estimated to have a resource of about 1.4 billion tonnes at 5.2% total heavy minerals.

The mineralisation of Koko Massava is open towards north and extends to the southern part of the Corridor North licence.

MRG plans to conduct an environmental management plan (EMP) and engage with the local government and the community in the first quarter of next year. After securing approval for its EMP, it aims to begin ground exploration.

Next year, the company plans to conduct wider spaced grid hand-auger drilling with 1km by 200m in drill spacing to 12m of depth to generate targets.

It will also conduct infill hand auger drilling on targets at about 500m by 100m in drill spacing to 12m of depth.

This will be followed by aircore drilling to assess depth extent within the targets along with analytical work and mineralogical investigations.

The company also stated that it had relinquished the Marruca 6846L HMS licence after finding no grades higher than 2% of total heavy minerals.

MRG chairman Andrew Van Der Zwan said: “MRG is delighted the Corridor North exploration licence has been granted and we can commence a new exploration campaign at this project area, which is directly north of our Koko Massava deposit.

“The relinquishment of the Marruca EL to make way for Corridor North is consistent with MRG’s long-standing strategy to shift its funding focus to new opportunities after exploration shows no visually estimated grades of higher than 2%.

"The company is now in position to apply its proven low-cost exploration techniques, which successfully discovered the Koko Massava deposit, at Corridor North from Q1 2024.”

In October, the company agreed to create a joint venture with Wickbury Investments for an REE project in Zimbabwe.