28 March
2024
ALTONA RARE EARTHS
PLC
("Altona"
or "the Company")
ZAMBIA COPPER LICENSE
ACQUISITION
Altona (LSE: REE), a resource
exploration and development company focused on critical raw
materials in Africa, is pleased to announce
that it has entered into an agreement with Sustineri Group Ltd
("Sustineri") and with the beneficial owners of Phelps Dodge Mining
(Zambia) Limited (the "Target") to acquire the entire issued share
capital of Phelps Dodge Mining (Zambia) Limited, the registered
holder of Large Scale Exploration Licence 21403-HQ-LEL ("the
Licence") , located in the Mufumbe District of Northwestern
Province of Zambia ("Tenement").
Consideration
The consideration for the transfer
of the exclusivity over the Tenement from Sustineri to Altona is
£40,000 to be satisfied by the immediate issue of 800,000 new
ordinary Altona shares ("Shares") at a price of 5p.
The consideration for the transfer
of the Target from its present owners to Altona will be as
follows:
·
US$ 40,000 on completion, being the later of the
date of the acquisition of the Target and the date of renewal of
the Licence, payable in Shares at the 30 day volume-weighted
average price, from which will be deducted any costs incurred by
Altona to renew the Tenement and to transfer the Target;
and
·
US$ 150,000 12 months after completion, payable in
Shares at the 30 day volume-weighted average price.
The
Tenement
The Tenement is located in the
Mufumbe District of Northwestern Province, Zambia. It has a surface
area of approximately 616 km2 and is valid for copper,
cobalt, nickel, lead, zinc, gold and diamonds. The Tenement is
located 4 km west of the Kamweji copper occurrence, and 60 km
southwest of the Mufumbwe copper mine (22 million tonnes at 1.6%
Cu), along strike.
Zambia is a safe and mature mining
jurisdiction known for its unique geology, dominated by the Central
Africa Copper Belt, where copper, cobalt and silver have been mined
for over a century, and where world class copper deposits continue
to be discovered on a regular basis.
The Tenement was previously held by
copper giant Freeport McMoRan until this company's strategic
decision to exit Zambia in April 2020. The Tenement has seen prior
grassroot exploration including 4,000 line kilometre of ground
magnetometer survey and a partial leach soil geochemistry survey
over a 4 kilometre square grid. This work highlighted the presence
of a large copper gold silver anomaly in the Northeastern part of
the Tenement, overlapping a possible demagnetised zone.
Immediate exploration work will
include reprocessing of the magnetometer survey data and an ionic
leach soil sampling survey at a reduced sample spacing, ahead of
defining drilling targets by the end of the year.
Portfolio expansion and diversification
This proposed acquisition represents
the first step in the implementation of the Company's updated
corporate strategy announced on 19 February 2024.
As the Monte Muambe Prefeasibility
Study is progressing with the on-going advanced metallurgical
studies, Altona recognises that the time is right for the Company
to expand and diversify its portfolio of projects in Africa. The
Company continues to actively assess additional potential new
opportunities with a focus on projects having a low-entry cost with
a clear pathway to early results and to majority
ownership.
Cedric Simonet, CEO of Altona, commented:
"Securing an
asset with enough potential to have historically attracted the
attention of a major player in the copper mining industry is a
significant achievement for Altona. We are delighted to make our
entry into Zambia with this acquisition; a country where
world-class copper and cobalt discoveries regularly make the
news.
"As mineralogy and metallurgy work at Monte Muambe continues,
the Kabompo South copper project acquisition demonstrates Altona's
commitment to deliver on its updated corporate strategy through a
careful selection of a limited number of high-quality
projects."
Application is being made for the
800,000 Shares to be admitted to trading on the Main Market of the
London Stock Exchange which is expected to be on or around 3 April
2024. The Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary
shares of the Company. Following this issue of 800,000 shares, the
Company's enlarged share capital and total voting rights in the
Company will comprise 86,767,107. The Company has no shares held in
Treasury. This figure of 86,767,107 ordinary shares may be used by
shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations
by which they will determine if they are required to notify their
interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of
the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency
Rules.
This announcement contains
information which, prior to its disclosure, was inside information
as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment)
(EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended).
To subscribe for RNS alerts, please
visit: https://www.altonare.com/investors/regulatory-news-alerts/
-ends-
Altona Rare Earths Plc
Cedric Simonet,
CEO
+44 (0) 7778 866 108
Louise Adrian,
CFO
+44 (0) 7721 492 922
Christian Taylor Wilkinson, Business
Development
+44 (0) 7795 168 157
Novum Securities Ltd (Corporate
Finance)
+44 (0) 20 7399 9400
David
Coffman
Daniel Harris
Allenby Capital Ltd (Joint Broker)
+44 (0)20 3328 5656
Kelly Gardiner / Guy McDougall
(Sales)
Nick Athanas (Corporate
Finance)
Optiva Securities (Joint
Broker)
+44 (0) 20 3411 1882
Daniel
Ingram
About Altona Rare Earths Plc
Altona is a
resource exploration and development company focused on Critical
Raw Materials in Africa. The Company is listed on
the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange with the ticker
"REE".
Rare Earths are a group of 17
chemical elements, many of which are critical to the
World's ongoing transition from
carbon-based to renewable energies, and to the defence and
communication sectors.
The Company is currently developing
Monte Muambe, its flagship Magnet Rare Earths Project, located in
Northwest Mozambique. The Project was acquired in June 2021, and
the Company has so far drilled over 7,800m, and
defined a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate of 13.6 million
tons at 2.42% TREO. A Competent Person Report including the
Scoping Study for Monte Muambe was published on 18 October 2023.
The Project is now at Prefeasibility Study stage, with a focus on
metallurgical testing and process.
Altona is presently assessing new
critical raw material projects acquisition opportunities, including
both Rare Earths and non Rare Earths projects.