REG - Aterian PLC - New Licences and Atlantis Metals Acquisition

AterianAnnouncement

08/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5705J  Aterian PLC  08 April 2024

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
km(2), 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 km(2).

·      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 km(2) 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 km(2), 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 km(2).
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 (http://www.aterianplc.com) or contact:

 

Aterian Plc:

Charles Bray, Executive Chairman - charles.bray@aterianplc.com
(mailto:charles.bray@aterianplc.com)

Simon Rollason, Director - simon.rollason@aterianplc.com
(mailto: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 (http://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 km(2). 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 km(2).

 

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

 

 

 

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