London-listed Aterian has received the change of control approval from the Ministry of Minerals and Energy in Botswana to formally complete the acquisition of a controlling 90% interest in Atlantis Metals, a private Botswana registered entity holding mineral prospecting licences in the Southern African country.

Atlantis holds a portfolio of ten strategically located copper/silver and lithium projects in Botswana, covering 4 486.11 km².

Aterian has also been awarded six new prospecting licences in the Kalahari Copperbelt, totaling 970.08 km².

The six new licences were granted for an initial three-year term and are renewable twice after that for a further two years per renewal.

At each renewal, 50% of the licence area needs to be relinquished.

The licences target the highly prospective D’Kar Formation, known to host regionally significant copper/silver deposits, Aterian points out.

The original Atlantis-awarded Kalahari Copperbelt licence, announced on January 8, is 50 km east of MMG’s Zone 5 deposit.

Three licences held, covering a combined 2 516.93 km² within the Makgadikgadi Pans, are considered highly prospective for lithium brine.

Target generation is under way, with independent consultants acquiring and reprocessing airborne geophysical data for the Kalahari Copperbelt project.

“Our strategy is to responsibly explore and develop critical minerals and metals across Africa, a region vital for a successful energy transition. Completing this acquisition and portfolio expansion further expands our presence on the continent.

“It perfectly fits our strategy of focusing on critical metals, copper and lithium, in stable and business-friendly jurisdictions,” chairperson Charles Bray says.

“These copper and lithium licences in Botswana underscore and support our exploration efforts in Rwanda, where we have an earn-in joint venture with Rio Tinto, and in Morocco where we are actively exploring for copper.

“We have been busy and look forward to updating the market on our continued exploration effort to develop these critical energy transition metals,” he adds.