ALO.L Regulatory News (ALO)

The following announcement replaces the Significant Guinean Bauxite Acquisition Announcement 9449X released at 7.00 a.m. on 23 February 2012. The first option to acquire 51% of FAR shall be satisfied by the issue and allotment of such number of ordinary shares of £0.007 each in the capital of Alecto rather than £0.07 as previously stated. All other text remains the same. A correction of the full announcement is below.

Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: Exploration & Development

23 February 2012

Alecto Minerals plc ('Alecto' or 'the Company')

Significant Guinean Bauxite Acquisition

Alecto Minerals plc, the AIM listed exploration and development company with gold and base metal projects in Ethiopia and Mauritania, is delighted to announce that it has entered into an option agreement ('the Agreement') relating to the staged acquisition of Forward Africa Resources ('FAR'), which holds the 711 sq km bauxite licence 223 ('Licence 223'). Licence 223 is located in a highly prospective south west coastal region of Guinea which already has established infrastructure and producing bauxite operations.

Overview

·; Highly prospective concession with potential to host an in-situ bauxite resource of over 500 million tonnes - 90 day due diligence period prior to completing the acquisition

·; Quality of the bauxite resource and geography lend the project to near term production

·; Located immediately north and contiguous to the 3.1 million tonne per annum Kindia Mine, which exports bauxite and provides feedstock for the Fria Alumina Refinery (See the attached map - Licence 223 (Alecto) & Licence 3 (Kindia))

·; Resources found in tabular deposits that cover the elevated plateaux ('bowals'), one of which crosses the boundary of the producing Kindia Mine and is being mined

·; Multiple bowals exist, which host bauxite deposits from surface to depths of between 8 and 20 metres with highest quality at surface

·; Exploration programme being designed to identify high grade target areas

·; Strong government support, which is looking to increase output of Guinea's mines and create employment

·; Existing infrastructure including railway lines and current expansion work at the port of Conakry is underway to provide additional capacity for stockpiling and exporting bauxite within production timeframe

Alecto Executive Director Damian Conboy said, "This bauxite acquisition is potentially transformational for Alecto and provides us with the opportunity to develop a producing operation with significant tonnage and cash flow potential in the near to mid term. The deposit is near surface and high grade and contiguous to the 3.1Mtpa Kindia bauxite mine and importantly, its close proximity to established infrastructure, including roads and railways, provide access to the strategically significant port of Conakry.

"We will immediately commence the design of an exploration programme for 2012 focussed on identifying key high grade drill targets to define an initial resource and subsequently move into production. Significantly, our rapid development timeframe fits the government's desire to attract investment and create wealth and we look forward to working closely with them, as we meet key exploration and development milestones over the coming months."

Option Agreement

Under the terms of the Agreement the Company has been granted a 90 day exclusivity period in which to conduct due diligence. The Company must spend €15,000 per month on a work programme during this due diligence period. 

Subject to the results of the due diligence, the consideration payable on exercise of the first option to acquire 51% of FAR shall be the issue and allotment of such number of ordinary shares of £0.007 each in the capital of Alecto ('First Option Consideration Shares') equal to 15.2% of the Company's issued share capital ('Issued Shares').

Further to this, Alecto has 18 months in which to exercise its second option to move to 100% ownership for a further consideration of 14.75% of its issued share capital. 

Additionally, the Agreement also includes a $1/tonne royalty on production from Licence 223.

FAR

In the event that Alecto exercises the first and second option then FAR will become a significant shareholder of Alecto holding up to 29.95%. FAR is incorporated in the Republic of Guinea. The Directors of FAR have a strong track record in developing mining assets and the Board believes that their involvement in Alecto will be highly beneficial to the Company's progression. FAR is a special purpose vehicle that holds licence 223 and has no prior history of trading. 

Project Background

Licence 223 is located immediately north and contiguous to the Kindia Mine on the coast plain approximately 100km inland of the capital city of Conakry. The Kindia Mine, owned by The Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia, a joint venture between the Government of Guinea and Russki Alumina, has been exploiting bauxite resources for over 50 years, both for the export market and as feedstock for the Fria Alumina Refinery, presently the only alumina refinery in the country. Current production is approximately 3 million tonnes ('Mt') per annum. Limited exploration has been conducted on the licence area, however, one of the bowals in the concession crosses the boundary of the Kindia Mine and is being mined as part of that operation.

Licence 223 covers an area of 711 sq km. The bauxite resources are found in tabular deposits that cover the bowals from surface to depths of between 8 and 20 metres. The quality of the bauxite varies with depth and across the bowals, with the highest quality being found at surface, where leaching has enriched the surface ore. 

The overall geology of the licence area has been reviewed at a high level by the doyen of Guinean Geology, Dr Vladimir Mamedov, in his seminal work published in 2011, which collated all of the historic exploration work undertaken in Guinea since the early colonial days. The present licence holder, Forward Africa Resources, has conducted some basic geological fieldwork, including basic mapping and sampling, plus a very limited drilling campaign. 

However, the overlapping of one of the bowals on the southern boundary which overlaps with the adjacent Kindia Mine is indicative as to the prospective nature of the deposit. Based on historic exploration, the Board believes that Licence 223 has the potential to host in-situ bauxite resources of over 500Mt. Whereas quality (defined by high alumina content and low silica levels) will vary across the bowals, limited higher quality areas will provide viable mineral reserves to support a life-of-mine of several decades at the initial planned production of between 1-2 Mt per annum ('Mtpa'). 

The licence is due for renewal during Q2 2012 and 50% of licence area will be returned. However, the Board is confident that this can be achieved with no impact on the bauxite resource, as the bowals cover an area of less than 50% of the concession. Given the limited area that has to be proven up to justify a near term mining operation, it is helpful to note that Dr Vladimir Mamadov has included some of the bowals in his studies, and his view of the bauxite potential in the area will be sought.

Infrastructure and Export Opportunities

Licence 223 is located some 30 km from the Kindia/Conakry railway line. It is also close to the Kindia/Fria railway line. A full project feasibility study will determine the most economic method for transporting the ore to the railway line, be it trucking or conveying.

Current expansion work in the port of Conakry will provide additional capacity for stockpiling and exporting of bauxite, within the proposed timeframe for bringing Licence 223 in to production. 

The seaborne bauxite market for West African bauxite exports is most likely to become increasingly dominated by north America, as feedstock from Jamaica will decline markedly from about 2015 due to depleting reserves. Also, the construction of alumina refineries in the Mediterranean and the Gulf States is creating new markets for premium quality bauxite. 

Proposed Project Development

The development of Licence 223 into a producing operation in a relatively short time frame fits exactly with President Alpha Conde's desire to increase the output of the country's mines and to create employment. 

The critical path for the development of a mine on Licence 223 is likely to be the environmental and social assessment programme, which will take a full calendar year. 

A relatively limited drilling and evaluation campaign is required to delineate a 5-year life-of-mine. A planned annual production of circa 2 million tonnes will require approximately 10 to 12 million tonnes of reserves. The mining of the most enriched areas to a depth of circa 5 metres will require an area of not much more than 100 hectares to be proven up, to achieve this target. This represents a very small percentage of the bauxitic bowals and between 2,000m and 3,000m of auger drilling.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.alectominerals.com or contact:

Notes:

Alecto Minerals plc is an AIM listed exploration company focussed on Africa with a diverse portfolio of exploration assets in Mauritania and Ethiopia. In Mauritania, it has three gold and base metal development licences totalling 1,902 sq km and two uranium licences totalling 1,592 sq km in the highly prospective Mauritanide mobile belt. It also holds the 1,953 sq km gold exploration licence in the highly prospective Aysid-Metekel region of north western Ethiopia and the 945 sq km Wayu Boda gold licence in the mineral-rich central-southern Adola greenstone belt in southern Ethiopia. 

The Company is committed to conducting exploratory work across its portfolio, designed to strengthen its knowledge of the assets and delineate targets for further exploration. In tandem, the Board continues to evaluate a number of synergistic assets to build shareholder value.