30 April 2021
Altona Rare Earths Plc
(“Altona” or “the Company”)
DECISION TO
PROCEED WITH ACQUISITION
OF MONTE MUAMBE
RARE EARTHS PROJECT
Altona (AQSE: ANR.PL), a rare earths exploration and mining
company, announces that following the announcement of the
Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) on 24
March 2021, between the Company and Ussokoti Investimentos
Limitada (“Ussokoti”), the board of Altona is pleased to state that
the due diligence on the acquisition target and Prospecting License
7573L (Monte Muambe Rare Earths Project), has been satisfactorily
completed and that the Company has now informed Ussokoti that it
wishes to proceed with the project.
To this effect, Altona has instructed its UK legal counsel to
prepare the final contract, as per the terms of the MoU, to start
the earn-in process which will end up with Altona owning 70%.
A further announcement will be issued on signature of the deal.
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson,
Chief Executive of Altona, commented, “We are pleased with the
speed this deal is moving forward. Monte Muambe is, we believe, a
significant rare earths project and it is clear both parties are
motivated to agree terms and move the project into the exploration
phase. I would like to acknowledge the exceptional support we have
received from our legal team in Mozambique, as well as from Ussokoti’s
management.”
-ends-
For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com (a
new website, currently being built, can be found at
www.altonaRE.com) or contact:
Altona Rare Earths
plc
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, Chief Executive
Martin Wood, Non-Executive Chairman |
+44 (0) 7795 168 157 |
Alfred Henry
Corporate Finance Ltd (AQSE Corporate Adviser)
Jon Isaacs / Nick Michaels |
+44 (0) 20 3772 0021 |
Company Information
Altona is a exploration and mining company focused on the
evaluation, development and extraction of rare earth metals in
Central and East Africa.
The Company was admitted to trading on AIM on 10 March 2005 and was subsequently admitted to
Aquis Stock Exchange on 1 February 2019. A copy of its
admission documents dated 4 March
2005 can be accessed on its website,
www.altonaenergy.com. This website is where items can be
inspected under Rule 4.14 of the AQSE Growth Market Access
Rulebook.
Information on Monte Muambe Rare
Earths Project
The tenement is located in Tete Province, Northwestern Mozambique, held by Ussokoti
under Prospecting Licence 7573L. The licence covers a 4km diameter
circular carbonatite intrusion.
The project has seen previous exploration for the mineral
fluorspar, between 2010 and 2012, including 165 reverse circulation
drillholes totaling over 12,000m.
Drill holes intersected Rare Earth Elements (“REE”) mineralisation
in at least four different zones within the intrusion, all of which
are open in several directions. Additionally, only about 5% of the
surface area of the intrusion have been drilled so far, thus
leaving significant potential for discoveries.
Available data indicate that REE mineralisation is at least
partly bastnaesite-hosted, and that individual REE intercept grades
reach up to 4.1%. Three significant intercepts have been
reported:
-
49m at 2.51% Total Rare Earths
Oxide (“TREO”) from the surface,
-
36m at 2.53% TREO from the
surface, and
-
96 m at 2.2% TREO from
surface,
These intercepts show that the project has the potential to host
a REE deposit amenable to open pit mining. Initial exploration work
will focus on expanding the mineralised zones and identifying new
ones, while ascertaining the basic metallurgical characteristics of
the ore, which is essential for REE projects.