ALO.L Regulatory News (ALO)

 Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: General Financial

29 May 2013

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

Strategic Alliance with Centamin plc

Alecto Minerals plc, the AIM listed multi-commodity exploration and development company with projects in Ethiopia and Mauritania, is delighted to announce that it has entered into a non-binding heads of terms to form a strategic alliance with Centamin plc ('Centamin'), the Arabian-Nubian Shield focused mineral exploration, development and mining company.

Highlights:

·; Alecto and Centamin have entered into a non-binding heads of terms agreement in relation to a proposed joint venture between the two companies ('Joint Venture')

·; The purpose of the Joint Venture is to pursue opportunities offered by certain mining projects identified by Alecto and Centamin within the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

·; It is intended that a formal joint venture agreement ('JV Agreement') will be entered into between Centamin and Alecto in due course

·; Both companies will participate in selecting future targets through a JV Committee

·; Any targets progressed by the JV committee will be deemed JV Projects and held by the JV

·; Centamin will invest £250,000 in Alecto by way of a share subscription at a price per share of 1.6p a 74% premium to share price at close of business 28 May 2013

·; Alecto currently holds two exploration licences in prospective greenstone belts of Ethiopia - Wayu Boda and Aysid Metekel

Alecto Minerals Managing Director Damian Conboy said, "This is a potentially transformative deal for Alecto that endorses the work we have completed and the quality of our portfolio in Ethiopia. If the JV Agreement is signed, with Centamin's investment and technical input, we believe we can rapidly advance the Wayu Boda gold project, and potentially our Aysid Metekel Project, to create value for our shareholders. We look forward to working with Centamin to explore our land package in Ethiopia and potentially develop further interesting projects."

Strategic Alliance with Centamin

The Company has entered into non-binding heads of terms for the formation of a strategic alliance with Centamin.

The alliance will allow both companies to evaluate, and potentially pursue together, opportunities offered by certain mining projects identified within the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Also, the alliance underpins both parties' commitment to identifying and developing projects in a country that is quickly emerging as a highly prospective destination, particularly for gold.

The Placing

As part of the proposed strategic relationship, Centamin has agreed to subscribe for 15,625,000 new ordinary shares in the capital of Alecto, at 1.6 pence per share, being, in aggregate, a total consideration of £250,000 (the Subscription Amount).

Joint Venture Projects

Alecto owns two highly prospective gold projects in Ethiopia being Wayu Boda and Aysid-Metekel. Both Alecto and Centamin have determined that Wayu Boda should be nominated as a JV Project. Under the Heads of Terms it is agreed that, if the JV Agreement is signed, Centamin will commit US$1.8m over the Initial Expenditure Commitment and a further US$6m if they elect to implement the Second Expenditure Commitment in order to earn a 51% and 70% interest respectively. The Aysid-Metekel project may be designated as a JV Project subject to further diligence by the JV Committee. If the project is designated, it has been agreed that Centamin will commit US$1.2m over the Initial Expenditure Commitment and a further US$5 million if they elect to implement the Second Expenditure Commitment.

To date, Alecto has completed exploration programmes during Q4 2012 and Q1 2013 designed to strengthen the Company's knowledge of the mineralisation.

Wayu Boda

The 945.5 sq km Wayu Boda project is located on the Adola Greenstone belt in southern Ethiopia, which is known to host significant deposits of gold including Midroc's Lega Dembi mine, which has an annual production in excess of 100,000 ounces, 83km to the North East.

Alecto conducted the first systematic exploration campaign in Q4 2012 which involved trenching, geophysics, and geological mapping. The programme focussed on the northern 15% of the licence areas where extensive artisanal workings occur in three locations of 2km of strike targeting quartz vein swarms and larger individual quartz veins hosted in metavolcanics. Occasional pits target the host rock itself and notably grades of up to 47.4 g/t of gold have been reported from rock chip sampling and trenching in these areas.

Trenching demonstrated that although the grade is lower at surface, the high grades recovered by the artisanal miners from the deeper working are encouraging, and will be investigated further through drilling. In terms of the wider licence area, the Company plans to broaden its exploration activities going forward to identify further possible targets.

Importantly, the project is 24km south of the privately owned National Mining Corporations 'Dawa' discovery which has recently undergone a primary economic assessment by independent consultants Venmyn and is reported to contain reserves of over 17Moz of gold (Addis Fortune. 2012).

Aysid-Metekel

The 1,953 sq km Aysid-Metekel gold exploration licence is located in a mineral rich region and approximately 80km from the Fiti skarn gold deposit discovered by MIDROC Gold Mine plc. There are significant artisanal workings throughout the tenement.

During Q4 2012, Alecto conducted an in-depth review of both historic and company derived data resulting in the delineation of five high priority target areas for follow up work during 2013. During Q1 2013, geochemical sampling (soil, stream and rock chip) and mapping was conducted on the Beles North, Beles Central and Bogiz targets. Assay results are not yet available but areas of significant gold-in-pan concentrates were identified. Work on the remaining Beles South and Gorshi North targets is planned after the cessation of the wet season as well as follow up work on the Beles North, Beles Central and Bogiz targets based on results from the Q1 2013 work.

**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 1,828 sq km in the highly prospective Mauritanide mobile belt and two uranium licences totalling 1,592 sq km. 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 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.