8
April 2024
New Licences Awarded in
Botswana
Atlantis Metals Acquisition
Completed
Aterian Plc
("Aterian" or the
"Company")
Aterian Plc
(LSE: ATN), the critical metal-focused
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce
that it has received the 'Change of Control'
approval from the Ministry of Minerals and Energy in the
Republic of Botswana ("Botswana") to formally
complete the acquisition of the controlling 90% interest in
Atlantis Metals (Pty) Ltd ("Atlantis"), a private Bostwana
registered entity holding mineral prospecting licences in of
Botswana. The Company also announces the award of six new
prospecting licences in the world-renowned Kalahari
Copperbelt.
Highlights:
· The acquisition of a 90
% interest in Atlantis, which holds prospecting licences in
Botswana, has been completed.
· Six new copper-silver
prospecting licences, totaling 970.08 km2, recently
awarded in the world-renowned Kalahari Copperbelt ("KCB").
· Atlantis hold a
portfolio of ten strategically located copper-silver ("Cu-Ag") and lithium (''Li'') projects in Botswana, covering
4,486.11 km2.
· The original
Atlantis-awarded KCB licence, announced on 8 January 2024, is 50 km
east of MMG's Zone 5 deposit (92.9 million tonnes grading 2.00 % Cu
and 21 g/t Ag).
· Three licences held,
covering a combined 2,516.93 km2 within the Makgadikgadi
Pans, considered highly prospective for Lithium brine.
· Target generation is
underway, with independent consultants acquiring and reprocessing
airborne geophysical data for the Kalahari Copperbelt project.
Charles Bray, Chairman of
Aterian, commented:
"I am very pleased to announce the
completion of the SPA with Aterian acquiring the majority
shareholding in Atlantis Metals, and also to report on the
significant increase in our exploration landholding within the
highly prospective Kalahari Copperbelt.
"Our strategy is to responsibly
explore and develop critical minerals and metals across Africa, a
region vital for a successful energy transition. Completing this
acquisition and portfolio expansion further expands our presence on
the continent. It perfectly fits our strategy of focusing on
critical metals, copper and lithium, in stable and
business-friendly jurisdictions.
"These copper and lithium licences
in Botswana underscore and support our exploration efforts in
Rwanda, where we have an earn-in JV with Rio Tinto, and in Morocco
where we are actively exploring for copper. We have been busy and
look forward to updating the market on our continued exploration
effort to develop these critical energy transition
metals."
New Licences in the Kalahari
Copperbelt
The six new licences, covering a
total area of 970.08 km2, are granted for an initial
three-year term and renewable twice after that for a further two
years per renewal. At each renewal, 50 % of the licence area needs
to be relinquished.
Licences target the highly
prospective D'Kar Formation, known to host regionally significant
Cu-Ag deposits.
The Kalahari Copperbelt
(KCB)
The Kalahari Copperbelt is one of
the world's most prospective areas for yet-to-be-discovered
sediment-hosted copper deposits (USGS, 2020) and hosts several
large stratabound, sediment-hosted copper-silver deposits. The KCB
is a northeast-trending Meso- to Neoproterozoic belt that occurs
discontinuously from western Namibia and stretches into northern
Botswana along the northwestern edge of the Paleoproterozoic
Kalahari Craton. It is approximately 1,000 km long by up to 250 km
wide and contains copper-silver mineralisation, generally
stratabound, hosted in metasedimentary rocks that have been folded,
faulted and metamorphosed to greenschist facies during the Damara
Orogeny. Typically, the deposits comprise stratabound disseminated
to structurally controlled ore bodies that are 5 to 40 m thick and
have strike lengths of 1.5 to 4 km. The main target for copper
mineralisation is towards the base of the D'Kar Formation, close to
the contact of the underlying red beds of the Ngwako Pan
Formation.
(Source:
https://www.geologyforinvestors.com/khoemacau-africas-newest-copper-silver-mine)
One of the Atlantis licences is situated approximately 50 km east of MMG's
Khoemacau Copper Mine ("KCM") Zone 5 deposit (92.9 million
tonnes grading 2.0 % Cu and 21 g/t Ag), designed to produce 60,000
to 65,000 tonnes per annum of copper and 2 million ounces per annum
of silver metal in concentrate. Furthermore, the Zone 9
Cu-Ag prospect,
owned by KCM, is within 30 km of this license area. Another licence
is located 7 km west of the KCM Banana zone, which hosts 157
million tonnes grading 0.86% Cu and 11 g/t Ag.
In March 2024, MMG Limited, listed
on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, completed the acquisition
of Cuprous Capital Ltd, the parent company of the Khoemacau Copper Mine in the KCB,
for US$ 1.73 billion.
Makgadikgadi Lithium Brine
Project
The licences (PL2328/2023,
PL2338/2023 and PL2621/2023) cover 2,517
km2. They are located along the eastern and southern
shores of Sua Pan, within the Central District, with Sua Pan
comprising one of three pans forming the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. As
a means of boosting exploration investment, the Makgadikgadi Pans
region has been officially declared a "Lithium Zone" by the
Ministry of Mines and Energy since 2022 due to a history of known
lithium brine occurrence and the emergence of new Direct Lithium
Extraction (DLE) technologies capable of rendering once-thought
uneconomic deposits, economic, typically having lower CAPEX and
OPEX compared to conventional evaporation methods. Historical data
reported in a 1980s study of the Sua Pan brines by the US Trade and
Development Program indicated anomalous lithium values. The samples
were collected from the northern area of Sua Pan and returned
values of 103, 117 and 223 mg/l Li (note that the source and
precise sample location are unknown at this time).
Work Plans
An independent consultancy is
presently acquiring historical airborne geophysical raw line data
for the purpose of reprocessing this information for Atlantis. The
outcome of this work is expected to provide improved insight into
the underlying geological lithologies. It will allow for more
precise target generation based on mapping out the contact between
the D'Kar Formation and the underlying red beds of
the Ngwako Pan Formation through geophysical
interpretation.
Qualified
Person
The technical disclosure in this
regulatory announcement has been approved by Simon Rollason, Chief
Executive Officer of Aterian Plc. A graduate of the University of
the Witwatersrand in Geology (Hons). He is a Member of the
Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, with over 30 years of
experience in mineral exploration and mining.
- ENDS -
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).
For further information, please visit the
Company's website: www.aterianplc.com or
contact:
Aterian Plc:
Charles Bray, Executive Chairman - charles.bray@aterianplc.com
Simon Rollason, Director - simon.rollason@aterianplc.com
Financial Adviser and Joint
Broker:
Novum Securities Limited
David Coffman / George Duxberry
Colin Rowbury
Tel: +44 (0)207 399 9400
Joint Broker:
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP
Ewan Leggat / Kasia Brzozowska
Tel: +44 20 3470 0470
Financial PR:
Bold Voodoo
- ben@baldvoodoo.com
Ben Kilbey
Tel: +44 (0)7811 209 344
Notes to Editors:
About Aterian plc
www.aterianplc.com
Aterian plc is an LSE-listed exploration
and development company with a diversified African portfolio of
critical metals projects.
Aterian plc is actively seeking to acquire and develop new
critical metal resources to strengthen its existing asset base
whilst supporting ethical and sustainable supply chains as the
world transitions to a sustainable, renewable future. The
supply of these metals is vital for the development of the
renewable energy, automotive and electronic manufacturing sectors
that are playing an increasing role in reducing carbon emissions
and meeting climate ambitions globally.
The Company has entered into a joint venture
agreement with Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration
Limited for Rio Tinto to earn into the HCK project in
southern Rwanda and holds two further partnerships
in Rwanda exploring and developing
lithium-tantalum-niobium-tin mining operations. Aterian currently
holds a portfolio of multiple copper-silver and base metal projects
in the Kingdom of Morocco, with a total area of 897
km2. In January 2024, the Company announced the
acquisition of a 90% interest in Atlantis Metals. This private
Botswana registered company holds seven mineral prospecting
licences for copper-silver in the Kalahari Copperbelt and three for
lithium brine exploration in the Makgadikgadi Pans region. The
total licence area in Botswana is 4,486 km2.
The Company's strategy is to seek new
exploration and production opportunities across the African
continent and to develop new sources of critical mineral assets for
exploration, development, and trading.
Glossary of Terms
The following is a glossary of technical
terms:
"Ag"
|
means
|
Silver
|
"Cu"
|
means
|
Copper
|
"Ferruginous"
|
means
|
containing iron
oxides
|
"Float sample"
|
means
|
loose pieces of rock
that are not connected to an outcrop
|
"g/t"
|
means
|
grams per tonne
|
"km"
|
means
|
Kilometres
|
"Li"
|
means
|
Lithium
|
"m"
|
means
|
Metres
|
"mm"
|
means
|
Millimetres
|
"Mt"
|
means
|
millions of
tonnes
|
"Outcrop"
|
means
|
a rock formation that
is in situ and visible on
the surface
|
"Qualified Person"
|
means
|
a person that has the
education, skills and professional credentials to act as a
qualified person under NI 43-101
|
"Stratiform"
|
means
|
parallel to the
bedding planes of the surrounding rock
|
"Vein"
|
means
|
a distinct sheetlike
body of crystallised minerals within a rock
|
"Zn"
|
means
|
Zinc
|