Altona Energy Plc - Granting of Exploration Licence

Altona Energy Plc - Granting of Exploration Licence

PR Newswire

London, October 28

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).

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For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or contact:

Altona Energy plc Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, Interim CEO Philip Sutherland, Non-Executive Director	[phone] [phone]
Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Ltd (Aquis Corporate Adviser) Jon Isaacs / Nick Michaels	[phone]
Leander (Financial PR)	[phone]

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.