TIDMATN
RNS Number : 8677Y
Aterian PLC
08 January 2024
8 January 2024
Botswana Acquisition - Copper and Lithium Brine Opportunity
Appointment of Corporate Joint Broker
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 signed
a Share Purchase Agreement ("SPA") to acquire a controlling 90%
interest in Atlantis Metals (Pty) Ltd ("Atlantis"), a private
Bostwana registered entity holding mineral prospecting licences in
the Republic of Botswana ("Botswana"). Atlantis currently holds
four licences covering a combined area of 3,516 km(2) , with one
licence targeting copper in the world-renowned Kalahari Copperbelt
and three licences for lithium brine exploration within the
Makgadikgadi region of northern Botswana.
Highlights:
-- Aterian will acquire a 90% interest in Atlantis Metals (Pty)
Ltd, which holds four prospecting licences in Botswana.
-- A 999 km(2) prospecting licence for copper exploration in the
world-renowned Kalahari Copperbelt, located in northern Botswana;
the licence is located 50 km east of Khoemacau Copper Mining's Zone
5 Mine (92.9 million tonnes grading 2.00 % Cu and 21 g/t Ag).
-- An additional three licences covering a combined 2,517 km(2)
for lithium brine exploration over an area east of Sua Pan in the
Makgadikgadi Pans.
-- The vendor who will retain a 10% Atlantis shareholding is a
private Botswana citizen and a professional geologist who will
manage Atlantis and Botswana exploration activities for the
Company.
-- The licences are located close to good infrastructure,
including national highways and power.
Charles Bray, Chairman of Aterian, commented:
" This announcement underscores our strategy of responsibly
exploring and mining for critical minerals and metals across
Africa, a region vital for a successful energy transition. The
signing of this SPA, to acquire substantial mineral licence assets
in Botswana, further expands our presence on the continent. It
perfectly fits our strategy of focusing on the critical metals,
copper and lithium, in stable jurisdictions.
Furthermore, these new lithium brine licences in Botswana
underscore our advancing lithium exploration efforts in Rwanda,
where we recently announced an earn-in JV with Rio Tinto. We have
been busy and look forward to updating the market on our continued
exploration efforts.
Aterian also owns copper assets in Morocco that are showing
increasingly promising results and our new licence in the Kalahari
Copperbelt complements this growing work to develop this critical
energy transition metal."
Key Terms of the SPA
Aterian will acquire a 90% interest in Atlantis Metals (Pty) Ltd
and assume responsibility for funding exploration activities.
The SPA is subject to certain conditions precedent, including
the change of control approval by the relevant authorities,
completion of financial and corporate due diligence and the
transfer of shares in Atlantis to a nominated subsidiary of
Aterian.
The holder of the outstanding 10% interest in Atlantis is a
private Botswana citizen who is a professional geologist and is
expected to be retained for a minimum 12-month contract to provide
management and exploration services.
Exploration expenditure commitments, acquisition consideration,
and professional service fees will total a minimum of US$ 80,000
and be payable over the 12 months following the signing of the
SPA.
The Kalahari Copperbelt
The Atlantis licence is situated approximately 100 km southwest
of the town of Maun in the Ghanzi District. It comprises one
tenement, Prospecting License 2622/2023 and lies on the eastern
margin of the highly prospective Kalahari Copper Belt ("KCB") of
northwest Botswana. The project is approximately 50 km east of
Khoemacau Copper Mine's ("KCM") Zone 5 Mine, 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 the license
area.
The Kalahari Copperbelt is regarded as 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.
In November 2023, MMG Limited, listed on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange, announced that it had entered into a Share Purchase
Agreement to acquire the parent company of the Khoemacau Copper
Mine ( wholly owned by the private company Cuprous Capital Ltd) in
Botswana, for an effective enterprise value of US$ 1.875
billion.
Makgadikgadi Lithium Brine
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.
The pans lie in a flat savanna approximately 900 m above sea level.
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).
The Makgadikgadi pans are in part oriented along a Tertiary
graben of the Pan-African ri ft and occupy the lowest point (890 -
900 m.a.s.l.) in the Kalahari, which in the past received water
from the proto Zambezi River resul ti ng in a significant inland
lake of around 66,000 km(2) . Sua Pan is currently fed by the
ephemeral Nata River and other smaller intermittently flowing
stream catchments (Semowane, Mosetse, and Mosope Rivers), all of
which drain gently sloping terrain to the east, which consists of
thick Kalahari sediments and arenosols, punctured by Archaean
granite outcrops and underlain by Carboniferous-Jurassic sandstone
and basalts. The later three west-flowing rivers drain greenstone
and granitic basement terrain, potentially providing a lithium
source. Some water carried into the pans evaporates, leaving a
surface of precipitated salts. The rest of the water percolates
into the subsurface, where, over time, the concentration of the
dissolved material is increased to the point of forming a brine
with the salts of elements such as lithium, boron, potassium, and
other salts. Concentrated brine's total dissolved solids (TDS)
range from 90,000 to 190,000 mg/L.
Work Plans
Given the early-stage nature of the new licences, initial
workstreams will concentrate on data collection and acquisition
from the Ministry of Mines and Energy to allow for a desktop review
and target generation exercise. This will be supported by
preliminary reconnaissance of the licences with first phase soil
sampling if deemed appropriate and water sample collection from
pre-existing wells within the area of Sua Pan.
Appointment of Joint Broker
Aterian is pleased to announce the appointment of SP Angel
Corporate Finance LLP ("SP Angel") as a joint corporate broker with
immediate effect.
-S -
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
Tel: +44 (0)207 399 9400
Joint Broker:
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP
Ewan Leggat / Kasia Brzozowska
Tel: +44 20 3470 0470
Financial PR:
Bald 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 recently 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 to explore and develop
lithium-tantalum-niobium-tin mining operations. Aterian currently
has a portfolio of 17 copper-silver and base metal projects in the
Kingdom of Morocco, with a project area of 897 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.
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