7 March
2022
ALTONA RARE EARTHS
PLC
(“Altona” or “the Company”)
TERMINATION OF
CHAMBE PROJECT JOINT VENTURE
Altona (AQSE: ANR.PL), an exploration company focused on the
evaluation, acquisition and development of Rare Earth Elements
(“REE”) mining projects in Africa,
announces that, following a recent visit to Malawi by the executive team, it has decided
to terminate its interest in the Chambe Rare Earths Project.
The Company follows strict investment criteria for all its
acquisitions, to create the best climate for success and
shareholder returns. In this instance, certain of these criteria
were not being met by its local joint venture partner, primarily
the completion of the conditions precedent as set out by the joint
venture agreement, leading to the board’s decision to step away
from the project now, before the start of exploration work. Only
minimal costs have been spent on the project to date, mainly
relating to the initial due diligence.
Hilton Banda, representative of
the local partner, has ceased to be a non-executive director of
Altona with immediate effect.
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson,
Chief Executive of Altona, commented, “For Altona, acquiring a
new project needs to be more than just the quality of the asset; it
also has to be the willingness of our joint venture partner to
follow the terms of the contract and work together to achieve a
joint goal. Unfortunately, this has not been achieved on this
occasion and, although it is disappointing, we believe terminating
the deal now is the right decision for us to take, to protect our
integrity and shareholder value.
“We are expecting the first assay results from our Mozambique rare earths project, Monte Muambe,
by the end of March, which we will publish as soon as they are
received and, we remain confident of acquiring a new REE asset,
discussions for which are currently in an early stage.”
-ends-
For further information, please visit www.altonaRE.com or
contact:
Altona Rare Earths Plc
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson, Chief
Executive
+44 (0) 7795 168 157
Martin Wood, Non-Executive
Chairman
+44 (0) 7880 787 080
Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Ltd (AQSE Corporate
Adviser )
Jon Isaacs / Nick
Michaels
+44 (0) 20 3772 0021
Optiva Securities (Broker)
Daniel
Ingram
+44 (0) 20 3411 1882
Company Information
Altona Rare Earths Plc is a mining exploration company focused
on the evaluation, development and extraction of Rare Earth Element
(REE) metals in Africa. It owns a REE mining project in
Mozambique; the Monte Muambe
Project, a Light REE mining project in the southwest of the
country, where exploration work commenced on 1 October 2021. The Company is in the process of
investigating other REE opportunities in Africa.