26 February 2018
Altona Energy Plc
("Altona" or "the Company")
Appointment of Consulting Geologist
Altona (AIM: ANR), a coal exploration company focused on South Australia, is pleased to announce it has engaged the services of a local and highly experienced consulting exploration geologist, Brenton Newell, to work with the Company in the initial stages of its project.
Mr Newell, is a geologist with over 30 years' experience in a range of commodities, and has worked with many companies in Australia, ranging from BHP Billiton to ASX-listed junior explorers.
Mr Newell is charged with designing an exploration programme focused on the south-west of the Company's Westfield tenement, based on the recent WSP Australia Pty Ltd and Runge Pincock Minarco Global desk-top surveys and all other data at his disposal from the 40 years of exploration in the Arckaringa Basin. Once this report is completed and an exploration programme has been approved by the board, Mr Newell will then oversee the ground exploration activity, which will be carried out by a well-regarded, Adelaide based geological contracting and consulting company, Euro Exploration Services, Pty Ltd ("Euro Exploration").
Euro Exploration provides both specialist consultant advice and a complete exploration service, ranging from project generation and management, to the supply of field personnel and equipment, including the latest in ground magnetometer technology for geophysics surveying.
Dr Fran Parker, the Tenement Manager with whom the Company has now worked with for many years, and who provides a key relationship between the South Australian government's mining department and Altona, has agreed to support the completion of the project. Dr Parker is a highly experienced geologist and well connected with the mining regulator.
Nick Lyth, CEO of Altona, commented, "From the outset of moving the new strategy forward, we realised we needed to achieve two things quickly; firstly, to build a solid team of local experienced mining professionals and secondly, to tighten the focus of exploration into a tenement which we believe will bring the best return to shareholders.
"The team we have now assembled has, we believe, more relevant experience in the target area, whilst being cheaper and more effective than our previous consultants. Once this initial survey phase of the Westfield tenement has been presented to the Company, we will be in a better position to report back to the market with the next phase of exploration for the project.
"We remain cognisant that the Australian coal industry is currently in an up-turn, with coal prices at a very high level and coal exports from Australia at a record level. To this end we hope to execute our strategy quickly, to take advantage of this market trend."
"I am finally pleased to be able to report that Mr Zhang, Chairman of Altona, has recovered following his hospitalisation and has resumed his role of contact and liaison with our joint venture partner, Sino-Aus Energy Group Ltd."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.
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For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or contact:
| Altona Energy plc Nicholas Lyth, Chief Executive Officer | +44 7769 906 686 |
| Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor- Wilkinson | +44 7795 168 157 |
| Northland Capital Partners Ltd (Nomad and Broker) Matthew Johnson / Gerry Beaney (Corporate Finance) John Howes (Corporate Broking) | +44 20 3861 6625 |
About Altona Energy
Altona is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. Its principal focus is on the evaluation and development of the Company's flagship Arckaringa Project to exploit the significant coal seams contained in three exploration licences covering 2,500 sq. kms in the northern portion of the Permian Arckaringa Basin in South Australia. The Project has an historic resource exceeding 7.8 billion tonnes of coal (1.3 billion tonnes historic under JORC 2004).
