Berkeley Mineral Resources Regulatory News (BMR)

BERKELEY MINERAL RESOURCES PLC

("BMR" or "The Company")

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment to be completed

Kabwe Washplant Definitive Feasibility Study

Estimated NPV US$18.7m, IRR of 197%, cumulative pre-tax cashflow US$26.9m

Potential 20% increase in tailings resource

Berkeley Mineral Resources, the AIM listed resource company engaged in the processing of tailings dumps in Zambia, announces that further to the announcement of 5 August 2013, notification has been received from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency ("ZEMA") that the Agency will require an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ("ESIA") for BMR's proposed Washplant tailings and Leachplant processing facility in Kabwe.

This will lead to a single environmental clearance of BMR's plans for the extraction of all the minerals from both the Washplant and Leachplant tailings at the former mine site.

BMR's 100% owned Zambian subsidiary, Enviro Processing Ltd, has appointed African Mining Consultants Limited (AMC), the leading Environmental Consultants in Zambia to compile the ESIA.

The first stage will be the submission of the Terms of Reference report ("TOR") which should be completed in 3 to 4 weeks.

Kabwe Washplant Definitive Feasibility Study 

BMR also announces that the Executive Summary of the Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") for the gravity separation stage of the Washplant Tailings prepared by its consultants Ascot Group Ltd ("Ascot") has today been published on the new BMR website at http://www.bmrplc.com

The DFS concludes that the project has:

1. Technical merit with the ability to commence processing the Washplant tailings in a gravity separation stage. This will process the tailings to provide a concentrate of not less than 40% with an initial zinc and lead metal recovery rate of not less than 60%. The process will be followed by a secondary leaching stage which will recover further percentages of zinc, lead and other valuable metals known to be in the tailings. A further feasibility study on the secondary Washplant tailings leaching stage is in progress.

2. Ease of processing with a mobile gravity and magnetic separation format which separates the zinc and lead content of the tailings using proven operating methods. The resultant tailings are securely stored in situ for further processing in the proposed secondary leaching stage, providing an ability to remove further base metals and rehabilitate the tailings site.

3. Environmental benefits in commencing to remove the lead from the Washplant section, which contains some of the highest grades of lead in the Kabwe dumps.

4. Robust economics and cash flow, even when assuming metal prices to be lower than average over the past five years. Capital payback of the amount invested in plant and equipment is scheduled to be achieved in 10 months. The project will produce 166,500 tonnes of concentrate in a four year life, and has a NPV at a 10% discount rate of US$18.7m and an IRR of 197%.

5. The possibility of utilising additional tailings resources from areas adjacent to the Washplant tailings which are not yet included in the operating plan.

Resource

JORC Compliant

The JORC statement of resource for the Washplant tailings, prepared by the Mineral Corporation on 28th March, 2011 states the following:

Additional Resource

As a result of the activities carried out in the plant design and verification programme, it was determined that additional material was potentially a recoverable resource. The resource has not been measured to a JORC standard but may increase the measured resource size by over 20%.

Economic Summary

In both the NPV and IRR calculations a discount factor of 10% has been used. All financial data is pre-tax.

Highlights are as follows:

Source: Ascot Group Definitive Feasibility Study

The additional resource has not been included in the economic summary. It is estimated, but unverified, that it is more than a 20% increase in resource.

The estimated cumulative pre-tax cashflow is US$26.9m.

Included in the economic summary is an environmental protection and remediation budget.

Plant

The processing plant will be built as a mobile unit on multiple flat-bed chassis which can be sited adjacent to the tailings deposit and relocated as required. It will use gravity separation methods which, industry wide, are used to treat a great variety of materials, ranging from heavy metal sulphides such as galena to coal at particle sizes now down to 8μm.

These methods declined in importance in the first half of the twentieth century due to the development of the froth floatation process (a process previously employed at the Kabwe Mine) but as companies have re-evaluated the costs of flotation, gravity systems are increasingly being deployed. Their relative simplicity and comparatively minor environmental impact are favourable. Gravity circuits are one of the most proven and accepted techniques of separating minerals due to their high efficiency and low operating cost.

The plant has been designed to receive Washplant tailings solids at a feed rate of 30 tonnes per hour ("tph") at an average slurry density of 25%. Accounting for material following internal reprocessing circuits provides a peak capacity requirement of just under 52 tph. The annual production target is 180,000t, which is 15,000 tonnes per month input.

Work is ongoing to complete the second part of the process, a leaching plant design, which will allow for the sequential separation of the lead and zinc as well as some of the minor metals. This process will substantially improve the overall recovery rates, improve the life of mine economics and will also provide a significant contribution to the long-term environmental remediation of the site.

Ascot, having completed the DFS for the gravity separation stage of the Washplant Tailings, is currently working on a further DFS for the subsequent Washplant Tailings leaching stage. Ascot is also concluding its plans for the processing of the Kabwe Leachplant Tailings. All work is being done in parallel with the ZEMA process.

Masoud Alikhani, Chairman, commented:

"Having assembled the Kabwe site ownership and been awarded the relevant licences, BMR is well aware of the environmental damage previously done. BMR has taken necessary steps and is proud to be ready to commence removing a notable cause of pollution in Zambia in a responsible and economic manner.

"We now have a plan to accomplish this task and at the same time reward our shareholders. With an estimated 10 month payback period on the capital investment and an IRR of 197% from the gravity separation processing stage of the Washplant material alone, the economics of the project are excellent.

"Whilst the ESIA is produced other work on the lead and zinc tailings can be progressed."

This release has been reviewed by Dennis Human, B.Sc. (Hons), Bus. Admin (Hons), MGSSA, 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.

9th September 2013

For further information please contact:

Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc

Masoud Alikhani, Chairman

Tel: 020 7408 1181

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe

Stewart Dickson / Julian Erleigh (Corporate Finance)

Jeremy Stephenson (Corporate Broking)

Tel: 020 7894 7000

Lothbury Financial Services

Michael Padley / Gary Middleton

Tel: 020 3440 7620