Berkeley Mineral Resources Regulatory News (BMR)

BERKELEY MINERAL RESOURCES PLC

("BMR" or the "Company")

Progress on BMR's Option to acquire Copper Tailings Assets in Chingola

Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc announced on 20 December 2011 that it had signed an Option Agreement which gave BMR the exclusive right to carry out due diligence on substantial stockpiles of copper tailings located in the Chingola area in the north of Zambia.

The stockpiles of copper tailings are located at three different areas within a 7km radius of each other. The Option Agreement permitted BMR to conduct due diligence on an exclusive basis for a period of 90 days from the lifting of the state moratorium on the transfer of already-issued licences currently in place in Zambia, with the right to extend that period by a further period of 90 days at extra cost.

Now that the moratorium has been lifted, BMR has negotiated a right to extend the period when it is able to conduct its due diligence relating to the Option to 9 July 2012, at no extra cost. The right to conduct due diligence on the tailings concerned during this period remains exclusive to the Company. Due diligence so far commenced has involved legal, licencing, land tenure, grade tests, metallurgy-related matters and assessing resource volumes in relation to the historical mine closure records ofZambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd ("ZCCM"), the parastatal mining company. The records estimated the total above-ground resources remaining in the three areas concerned to be approximately 98.9 million tonnes of tailings containing an estimated 1,445,000 tonnes of copper metal. BMR believes it can complete the due diligence required within the extended time period agreed. All historic estimates are not JORC compliant and have not been verified at this time and therefore cannot be relied upon for economic assessment purposes. As well as progressing with due diligence in connection with the Option Agreement at Chingola, BMR's Zambian development team continues to conduct desk and field research to locate further stockpiles of copper tailings in northern Zambia.

Masoud Alikhani, Chairman, commented:

"BMR is now leveraging its accumulated tailings processing expertise and its specialised legal and commercial knowledge of Zambia to select and acquire the most valuable above-ground resources of copper and other base metals in what is one of the richest mineral bearing regions in the world. We are especially concentrating on former mine sites which contain heightened ore grades, compatible mineralogy and existing infrastructure necessary for maximum processing viability."

19th April 2011

This release has been reviewed by Dennis Human, B.Sc. (Hons), Bus. Admin (Hons), GSSA, Consulting Geologist to the Company, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the guidance note for Mining, Oil & Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in respect of AIM Companies. 

For further information please contact:

Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc

Masoud Alikhani, Chairman

020 7408 1181

Seymour Pierce

Stewart Dickson / Jonathan Wright (Corporate Finance)

Jeremy Stephenson / Richard Redmayne (Corporate Broking)

020 7107 8000

Lothbury Financial Services

Michael Padley /Gary Middleton020 7868 2010