Mkango Resources

Mkango Resources Ltd. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company, founded on November 13, 2007, by William Dawes and Alexander Lemon. The company is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Mkango's corporate strategy is centered on creating an integrated "mine, refine, recycle" supply chain for rare earth elements, which are critical for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other clean energy technologies.

The founders' backgrounds are deeply rooted in geology and mining finance. CEO William Dawes trained as a geologist and subsequently worked as a mining analyst and in Rio Tinto's exploration division before moving into mining finance and M&A with firms like JPMorgan. President Alexander Lemon also has a background in mineral exploration and gained extensive operational experience as the managing director of a gold mining company in Central Asia. Their combined expertise has guided Mkango from an early-stage exploration company to its current multi-faceted operational strategy.

The cornerstone of Mkango's business is the Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi. The company has advanced this project from initial exploration in 2010 to a completed Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) in July 2022. The open-pit mine is projected to have an 18-year life and is designed to produce a mixed rare earth carbonate. This carbonate will then be processed at a planned separation plant in Pulawy, Poland, which is being developed in collaboration with Grupa Azoty PULAWY. Both the Songwe Hill and Pulawy projects have been designated as Strategic Projects by the European Commission under the Critical Raw Materials Act.

Expanding beyond primary extraction, Mkango has diversified into the rare earth magnet recycling sector through its majority-owned subsidiary, Maginito. Maginito acquired HyProMag, a company commercializing a patented technology called Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap (HPMS) for extracting and demagnetizing NdFeB alloy powders from scrap magnets. This recycling operation is being rolled out in the UK, Germany, and the United States through a joint venture with CoTec Holdings Corp. This integrated model allows Mkango to target both primary production and the circular economy for rare earths. The business generates value by exploring and developing mineral properties and will make money by selling the separated rare earth oxides and recycled magnet materials to downstream manufacturers.

Keywords: rare earth elements, mineral exploration, mining, resource development, Malawi, Songwe Hill project, rare earth recycling, neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium, sustainable mining, circular economy, HyProMag, magnet recycling, HPMS technology, critical raw materials, green technology, clean energy supply chain, mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, Pulawy separation plant, strategic minerals, mining finance, geology