Altona Rare Earths PLC (LSE:REE) has taken out a binding option agreement on the Sesana project in northwest Botswana.
Located in the heart of the highly prospective Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB), Sesana is close to major copper-silver discoveries and 25 km from the producing Khoemacau underground copper-silver mine.
Covering a surface area of 274 sq km, recent airborne surveys have shown prospective geological structures for copper-silver mineralisation passing through the tenement.
Cedric Simonet, Altona’s chief executive, said: "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 added that the tenement is valid until 31 March 2026, after which it can be renewed twice for periods of up to years years each.
Under the agreement, Altona can acquire up to 85% of the prospect from Ignate African Mining for US$110,000 in cash and US$250,000 worth of shares plus phased exploration technical and expenditure commitments.
Initial exploration will consist of a combination of geochemical and geophysical work including soil sampling associated with ionic leach assaying, a technique particularly suitable for the KCB context said the company.
Simonet added: "The acquisition of the Sesana Project is in line with the implementation of Altona's portfolio diversification strategy.
"This, and the recently acquired Kabompo South critical raw materials project in Zambia, is expected to generate news flow at a relatively low cost and will complement our flagship Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique."