First tranche of placing and Directorate Change

1 November 2013

Altona Energy Plc (AIM: ANR)

("Altona" or "the Company")

Completion of first tranche of placing and Directorate Change

Altona, the AIM listed Australian based energy company, today announces the completion of the placing of 59,700,000 ordinary shares to Wintask Group ("Wintask") at 1.4 pence per share ("the Placing") and also announces that Chris Schrape is stepping down from his role as Managing Director of Altona by mutual consent.

The placing with Wintask raises £835,800 before expenses, pursuant to the placing agreement announced on 8th October 13 ("the Placing Agreement"). The Wintask Group is 100 per cent owned by Mr Qinfu Zhang, a Chinese national and Chairman of the Hailang Group, a private group of manufacturing and high-tech companies, with clean coal technology patents and patents with emission reducing applications in mainland China. The Group is located in the Baoji Hi-tech industrial zone, where they have developed energy-efficient micro-emission coal-fired boilers, using clean coal combustion technology. Their technology is has attained international standards and their products have obtained a number of patents.

Under the terms of the Placing Agreement announced on 8th October 2013, the second tranche of the placement is subject to shareholder approval and further details will be provided in due course.

Following the completion of the Placing, Wintask will have an interest in 59,700,000 ordinary shares of the Company, representing 9.6 per cent of Altona's enlarged issued share capital. The 59,700,000 ordinary shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on 6 November 2013.

The total number of ordinary shares on issue following the completion of the Placing will be 621,656,853. The Company holds zero shares in treasury, therefore the total number of shares in issue with voting rights in Altona will be 621,656,853.

The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, Altona under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules

As a condition of the completion of tranche 1, the Company has offered Wintask representation on the Board, and the offer to appoint a non-executive to the Board has been accepted. A further announcement regarding the Board appointment will be made in due course.

In conjunction with making a substantial investment in the Company, Wintask has expressed interest in offering assistance to the Board in developing the Arckaringa project and the Board looks forward to working with the new investor to progress the project.

The Company also announces that Chris Schrape is stepping down from the Company's Board of Directors with immediate effect. The Directors have decided to defer the appointment of a replacement Managing Director whilst the Board evaluates its options with regards to the role and will report to shareholders in due course. In the meantime the Board is confident that the existing Directors are well placed to ensure a seamless transition of Chris' duties. Peter Fagiano, Altona's Technical Director, whose experience on the Arckaringa project started with Jacobs engineering, prior to his joining the Board, is well placed to continue to lead the Arckaringa project through the current technical phase and Christopher Lambert, the Company's Chairman, has the responsibility to ensure that Altona successfully manages the transition with its key stakeholders.

Christopher Lambert, Executive Chairman of Altona said: "We welcome Wintask as a new cornerstone investor in Altona, bringing substantial expertise and leverage in China, and we will use this opportunity to drive the Arckaringa project forward. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Schrape for all his hard work on the project to this point. It has been a challenging period for all of us, but we now look forward and Altona is well placed with a world class asset, supportive investors and a capable team."

**ENDS**

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