TIDMANR 
 
2 February 2018 
 
                               Altona Energy Plc 
 
                          ("Altona" or "the Company") 
 
                        MoU with Joint Venture Partners 
 
Altona (AIM: ANR), a coal exploration company focused on South Australia, is 
pleased to report that a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") 
between the Company and its Joint Venture Partners, Wintask Group Limited 
("Wintask") and Sino-Aus Energy Group Limited ("Sino-Aus") has been signed. 
 
Under the terms of the MoU, Wintask, Sino-Aus and Altona, have confirmed their 
intention to co-operate to assess the potential for a conventional coal mine in 
the Westfield tenement. In addition, both Wintask and Sino-Aus have confirmed 
to the Company that the level of funding committed in the 2014 Joint Venture 
Agreement can be made available to develop the project (AUD$3.3 million and 
AUD$29.7 million, respectively).  It is expected that these amounts would be 
sufficient to complete all exploration and also the bankable feasibility study. 
 
Initial investigations by consulting engineers indicate that there is a coal 
seam in the south west of the Westfield tenement that may be sufficiently 
shallow, dry and disconnected from the Great Artesian Basin to be economically 
extractable. There has been much exploration throughout the Arckaringa Basin 
generally, but the area that the Company is now focused on has never been 
explored. Previous exploration activities by various companies have focused on 
the significant coal deposits elsewhere in the Arckaringa Basin that were too 
deep and too connected to the Great Artesian Basin to be economically 
extractable. 
 
Altona's Joint Venture Partners are particularly encouraged by the current 
macro-economic conditions for coal demand, particularly in relation to China. 
Currently, the price of thermal coal ex-Newcastle, the main exporting port in 
Australia is FoB ("free on board") AUD$128 per tonne. 
 
Although the Company cannot estimate the FoB cost for Westfield until after 
further exploration, large scale coal miners elsewhere in Australia typically 
are quoting FoB costs of less than AUD$60 per tonne. 
 
This support from Sino-Aus and Wintask encourages the Company to immediately 
commence its engagement of a reputable geological consultant firm to deliver an 
initial exploration plan for Westfield. 
 
Nick Lyth, CEO of Altona, commented, "I am delighted that our partners have 
expressed a willingness to develop the Company's coal project. This level of 
funding would represent more than twice the Company's current market 
capitalisation. The economics of conventional coal mining in Australia are at 
their strongest level for several years with a number of thermal coal mine 
companies, such as Whitehaven Coal, showing significantly higher share prices 
and exceptional profits. 
 
"I look forward to reporting progress on our exploration to shareholders, along 
with further updates on our tenement licence renewals and third-party 
agreements." 
 
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of 
Regulation (EU) 596/2014. 
 
                                    -ends- 
 
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)                                                 +44 20 3861 6625 
Matthew Johnson / Gerry Beaney (Corporate 
Finance) 
John Howes (Corporate Broking) 
 
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). 
 
 
 
END

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

Altona Energy (LSE:ANR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Altona Energy Charts.
Altona Energy (LSE:ANR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Altona Energy Charts.