ALO.L Regulatory News (ALO)

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

16 January 2012

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

Drill Programme Finalised for Wad Amour Gold Project in Mauritania

Alecto Minerals plc, the AIM listed exploration and development company with gold and base metal projects in Ethiopia and Mauritania, is pleased to announce that it has finalised the design of its ~1,500m Mauritanian scout drilling programme, comprising of 12 holes, focussed primarily on targeting Iron Oxide Copper Gold ('IOCG') mineralisation at its 615 sq km Wad Amour licence located in the prospective Mauritanide mobile belt of Mauritania. Previous rock chip sampling has returned grades of up to 5.8% copper and also gold and silver. This campaign is designed to test the extent of the mineralisation at depth.

As outlined in the Company's announcement dated 10 October 2011, results from the Phase 2 work conducted by SRK Exploration Services ('SRK ES') highlighted three targets worthy of further exploration, with particular emphasis on the East-West trending 'Chiron' anomaly, located in the Wad Amour licence, which contains anomalous copper values over an 800m strike. The Company's Technical Consultant, Michael Smith, will be overseeing Phase 3 of exploration which will commence in Q3 2012. Local geologists are currently being sought to conduct the work.

SRK ES considers that the Wad Amour licence has the potential to host significant copper/gold occurrences similar to First Quantum Mineral Limited's Guelb Moghrein IOCG deposit. Surface mapping accompanied with favourable results from rock chip sampling and soil geochemistry indicated three mineralised areas at this target. It is suspected that all three areas form part of a single body and the 12 hole drill programme will test whether the mineralisation extends between these surface bodies. A number of additional holes will be placed from information gathered while drilling. Results delivered from ground geophysics support the surface observations, indicating additional targets with no surface expression in the area; in the middle of the surface expressions of mineralisation, 350m to the SE and 900m to the NNE.

Alecto Executive Director Damian Conboy said, "Exploration to date in Mauritania has highlighted the IOCG prospectivity of our licences and this circa 1,500m drill programme will build upon the focussed exploration work already conducted to date. Drilling is our main priority for this current field season however, depending on time we will also implement a regional programme and conduct further geophysics and soil sampling to broaden our understanding of the area. Importantly, we look forward to utilising our recently hired technical director Michael Smith with his extensive experience in developing projects as we press forward and strengthen our understanding of the mineralisation, with a view to building shareholder value."

**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.