29 October
2020
ALTONA ENERGY
PLC
(“Altona” or “the Company”)
GRANTING OF
EXPLORATION LICENCE
Altona (AQSE: ANR.PL), a mining exploration company with a focus
on Rare Earth Element (“REE”) mining projects in Eastern Africa, is pleased to announce that
Leadway Group Ltd (“Leadway Group”) has been granted a three year
Exploration Licence for its tenement EL00115, known as the Nankoma
Rare Earths Project. The tenement covers an area of 67.5
km2 and is located approx. 50 km east of Jinja, which
lies 130 km east of Kampala in
South-Eastern Uganda.
Altona signed Heads of Agreement with Leadway Group on 21
September, to acquire an initial 51% interest in the company
(rising to 70%), which it expects to complete on or around the end
of November, on successful completion of the Company’s current
round of funding.
The Nankoma Rare Earths Project is an ionic-clay based REE
Greenfield site, which shares its northern border with the Rare
Earth mining projects owned by ASX listed, Ionic Rare Earths Ltd
(ASX: IXR), which reported a Mineral Resource Estimate of 78.6 Mt @
840 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (“TREO”) on its Makuutu Central Zone
(tenement RL1693), to the west of Nankoma, in June 2020. Ionic Rare Earths Ltd is
currently expanding exploration drilling eastwards and has recently
concluded a 68-hole drill programme on the tenement directly north
of Nankoma, with the analysis pending.
Crucially, Ionic Rare Earths Ltd reported high levels of
Critical Rare Earth Oxides (“CREO”), at 310 ppm, which include the
elements, Neodymium and Praseodymium, two of the REEs which Altona
is focused on extracting, due to their demand in many technology
and green industries.
Altona will embark on drilling target generation using Uganda’s
airborne geophysical survey datasets (survey flown in 2006) as well
as Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and multi-spectral
satellite imagery, and ground proofing (including preliminary
assaying and leach tests). Scout drilling of the targets will
involve about 20 PQ3/HQ3 diamond drilling holes as well as first
pass metallurgical testing.
This work will commence upon a successful fund raise, which is
currently in progress on NR Private Market, a sophisticated
crowdfunding platform for junior mining companies (see
www.NRPrivateMarket.com to register for further information on
Altona and its Rare Earth strategy).
-ends-
For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or
contact:
Altona Energy
plc
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, Interim CEO
Philip Sutherland, Non-Executive Director |
+44 (0) 7795 168 157
+61 (0)402 440 339 |
Alfred Henry
Corporate Finance Ltd (Aquis Corporate Adviser)
Jon Isaacs / Nick Michaels |
+44 (0) 20 3772 0021 |
|
|
Leander (Financial
PR)
|
+44 (0) 7795 168
157 |
Company Information
Altona is a mining exploration company focused on the
evaluation, development and extraction of Rare Earth Element (REE)
metals in Eastern Africa.
The Company was admitted to trading on AIM on 10 March 2005 and was subsequently admitted to
Aquis Stock Exchange (previously NEX) 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 75 of the Aquis Rules for Issuers, from
1 February 2019.