News Press Releases

Aclara Appoints General Manager

T.ARA | April 20, 2023

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Aclara Resources Inc. ("Aclara" or the "Company") (TSX:ARA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nelson Donoso as General Manager of the Company effective May 15th, 2023.

"We are delighted to welcome Nelson as our new General Manager," said Ramón Barúa, CEO and Director of Aclara. "Nelson, born in Penco and educated in the Biobío region, is a highly recognized local leader with vast experience leading and executing projects that have driven significant progress in Biobío. He has remarkable in-country experience, and will bring strong business network and enthusiasm to our Aclara story."

Mr. Donoso is currently a board member and Vice President of the "Cámara de la Producción y del Comercio Biobío" (Biobio's Chamber of Production and Commerce), the most important guild association in the Biobío Region, which brings together the main productive sectors, including more than 140 companies and trade associations. In this entity, he also serves as President for Clean Energy and Climate Change Committee. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Council of Biobio's Regional Ministry of the Environment and of the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Regional Governor of Biobio. He is also a board member of the "Asociación de Gas Natural de Chile" (Chilean Association of Natural Gas), a guild organization that seeks to promote the development of the natural gas industry in Chile.

With 29 years of professional experience, Mr. Donoso has managed organizations focusing on safety, health and environmental matters. He has also led teams in the development of large-scale industrial energy transformation projects, as well as executed infrastructure projects for the transportation and regasification of natural gas.

Between 2019 and 2023, Mr. Donoso served as the General Manager of Innergy Soluciones Energéticas S.A. and Gasoducto del Pacífico, a company that has been supplying natural gas to the Biobío and Ñuble regions since 1999. Between 1998 and 2019, Mr. Donoso served as the Chief Operating Officer at Innergy Soluciones Energéticas S.A., where he oversaw the commercial and risk prevention areas, as well as the operations of the Pacific Gas Pipeline between Argentina and Chile.

Mr. Donoso's accomplishments include designing, obtaining environmental permits for, and overseeing the construction of over 120 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, implementing a Pipeline Operation and Maintenance Program, and forming an operations team with a working culture focused on safety and planning.

About Aclara

Aclara Resources is a Rare Earths company with a development project in Chile, and is listed on the TSX (TSX:ARA).

Aclara is initiating the development of its resources through a project called the Penco Module, which covers a surface area of approximately 600 hectares, and which hosts ionic clays rich in rare earth elements. Aclara is currently focused on the development and future construction and operation of the Penco Module, which will aim to produce a rare earth concentrate through a processing plant fed by clays from nearby deposits. Aclara's extraction process offers several environmentally attractive attributes such as: no requirement to blast, crush, or mill the feedstock; no tailings facility; minimal water consumption due to a high level of water recirculation; amenability to leaching with a fertilizer; and containing no radioactivity. In parallel with the development of the Penco Module, the Company intends to identify additional opportunities to increase future rare earth element production via intensive greenfield exploration programs and the subsequent development of additional project "modules" within the Company's concessions.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events, including statements with regard to, among other things, management's expectations as to the accretive value to the Company from the appointment of Mr. Donoso as General Manager. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated as of March 28, 2023 filed on the Company's SEDAR profile. Actual results and timing could differ materially from those projected herein. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws.