London-listed Altona Rare Earths has appointed David Catterall as a consultant, with a special focus on the company's Sesana copper/silver project, in Botswana, where he will work closely with CEO Cedric Simonet.
"[Catterall] is considered an expert of the Kalahari Copper Belt, where the Sesana project is located, and we are delighted to have him on board. His superior knowledge of the Kalahari Copper Belt will be of immediate benefit to Altona as we are preparing this year's exploration programme,” Simonet said on April 29.
Catterall is a geologist with more than 36 years' operational and field-based experience in mineral exploration throughout Africa and Europe in a range of commodities but specialising in structurally controlled precious and base metals deposits.
He has worked on the Central Africa Copper Belt in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and also extensively on the Kalahari Copper Belt, both in Namibia and Botswana.
He has regional and district-scale expertise and gained first-hand working experience on several of the known deposits, including on the Khoemacau Zone 5 mine, which is located 25 km from the Sesana project.
“Copper prices have steadily increased in recent months, and backed by both short-term and long-term supply concerns, this commodity has become one of the most in-demand globally, leading to a number of major merger and acquisition activities for the likes of Glencore, Teck, BHP and Anglo American.
“The green energy transition is expected to drive the copper demand increase over the next two decades and beyond, and Altona believes it has entered the copper market at the right time,” Simonet said.