Red Rock Resources Share News (RRR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Red Rock Resources PLC saw its shares rise Friday after it said the value of its investment in steel feed company Jupiter Mines Ltd had risen, and was supporting almost its s entire market capitalisation.

In a statement, Red Rock said Jupiter, in which it has a 1.2% holding, put out its annual report showing that its net asset value per share rose to AUD21 cents.

"As recently as December 2013 Red Rock was able to purchase Jupiter shares before delisting at AUD5.6c, whereas current Jupiter figures put a Net Asset Value of AUD21c a share, with 86% of this value tied up in cash and the Tshipi investment," Red Rock Chairman Andrew Bell said in a statement. "True value is likely to be higher."

"This puts the book value of Red Rock's current holdings at AUD5.75 million. Red Rock's current market cap sits at GBP3.84 million, with GBP3.18 million of this alone backed by this holding," Bell added.

"While a non-core asset at this stage, the company will continue to actively manage its investment in Jupiter with a focus on maximising ultimate disposal value," the chairman said.

Red Rock Resources also reported other highlights from the Jupiter Mines annual report, saying it had made significant progress on key projects.

Jupiter has a 49.9% interest in two manganese projects in the Kalahari Manganese fields in South Africa, Tshipi Borwa and Tshipi Bokone. The Tshipi Borwa mine produced 1 million tonnes of ore in first full year of operation, and production at Tshipi is set to increase to 2.4 million tonnes a year, according to the highlights from the report.

Jupiter also has two projects in the The Central Yilgarn iron projects in Australia: the smaller direct shipping ore Mount Mason project and the flagship long-life magnetite project, Mount Ida.

The focus of recent months has been on the Mt. Mason project, with efforts to reduce capital and operating costs via optimisation and use of common infrastructure in the Yilgarn. All baseline and environmental surveys have been completed and project approvals are expected by July 2014, according to the extract from Jupiter's annual report.

The Mt. Ida magnetite project remains the main iron asset for Jupiter in the Yilgarn, but is currently on hold at this time.

"Following the end of this fiscal period the Esperance Ports Sea and Land announced that the YES Consortium has been named as the preferred proponent to develop the Multi User Iron Ore Facility at Esperance Port, in which Jupiter is expected to participate and be a primary customer. The resolution of port capacity and throughput issues at Esperance is expected to materially impact the decision to proceed to mining at both Mt. Mason and Mt. Ida.," the extract from the Jupiter report said.

Red Rock Resources shares were up 17.4% at 0.27 pence Friday morning.

By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1

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