Altona Rare Earths plc has signed a binding option for the Sesana copper-silver exploration project within PL2329/2023 in the Northwest District of Botswana.
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The agreement with Ignate African Mining P/L follows the company’s Zambia metals-diamond acquisition in March as part of its diversification strategy.
Sesana lies in the heart of the Kalahari copper belt (KCB), 25km from the producing Khoemacau underground copper-silver mine and in an active exploration area.
PL2329/2023 is valid for copper, cobalt, gold, silver, lead, zinc, aluminium, chromium, iron, titanium and platinum group metals.
Altona said that recent airborne geophysical data interpretation showed prospective geological structures for copper-silver mineralisation passing through the 274 km2 tenement.
The company has the exclusive option to acquire up to an 85% interest for payments in three tranches over four years totalling US$110,000 in cash and US$250,000 in Altona shares.
The licence runs until 31 March 2026, after which it can be renewed twice for periods of up to two years each.
Over the remainder of 2024, the company plans geochemical and geophysical exploration at Sesana.
Chief executive Cedric Simonet added that much of Botswana, considered one of the best mining destinations in the world, remained to be discovered.
“Past exploration along the KCB has focused on the along-strike extensions of initial discoveries, ignoring some of the numerous parallel folds that recurrently bring the D’Kar / Ngwako Pan formations contact near the surface.
“Recent interpretation of regional airborne geophysics data clearly shows this contact passing through the Sesana project area, giving us a high level of confidence in its potential.”
Altona’s flagship project is the Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique.