FML.L Regulatory News (FML)

FRONTIER MINING LTD

("Frontier" or "the Company")

 Directorate Change

Frontier Mining Ltd (AIM: FML), the AIM quoted copper company operating in Kazakhstan, informs the market that Erlan Sagadiev has stepped down from the board and resigned as CEO. Yerlan Aliyev, current Non-Executive Director and principal of Coville Intercorp Ltd ("Coville"), will assume the duties of CEO and Chairman on an interim basis while the Board searches for a permanent replacement to both the CEO and Chairman positions.

Mr Sagadiev has recently been appointed Economic Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, in recognition of his services to business and as one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs. Accordingly, he can no longer hold any position in a company with operations in Kazakhstan.

The Board of Directors wishes to acknowledge the great strides taken by the Company during his tenure. In the three years and nine months since joining Frontier, Mr Sagadiev solidified the Company's financial position, securing all necessary funding for development, and coordinated the successful transition from exploration activities to cutting-edge copper production. During this period he also significantly increased reserves, consolidating ownership of Benkala by negotiating the acquisition of Coville's 50% interest in the Benkala project (February 2010 to April 2011) and purchasing the subsurface use contract for the neighbouring deposit at South Benkala (May 2011 to January 2012). Mr Sagadiev remains a significant shareholder in FML and supporter of the Company.

Commenting on his departure, Mr Sagadiev said; "It was with great pride that I accepted the honour of advising my country's government, but it was not an easy decision to relinquish my position at Frontier. I could not have made such progress without the skilled dedication of the management team and workforce. Although saddened not to be on the Board to witness the realisation of the Company's full potential, I have great confidence in Yerlan's ability to build on our successes and meet the expectations of shareholders and investors".

Mr Aliyev (43) brings significant financial and strategic management experience to the position. Mr Aliyev was integral to the successful and smooth acquisition of assets from Coville in 2010, the subsequent sale of Maminskoye for $37.5m and the initiation of the relationship with Sberbank which has resulted in a $35m financial facility. With an MSc in Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Mr Aliyev chose to focus his intellect on business and banking, completing an MBA at Moscow State University. He quickly rose through the ranks of several large Kazakh institutions, holding senior positions at JSC Mangistaumunaigaz, KazakhTeleCom, KazCommertsBank and most recently serving as Chairman of the Russian commercial bank JSC Starbank. 

Frontier will benefit from his extensive knowledge of international finance, resource and banking operations, in addition to the significant management expertise that has led him to be regarded by his peers as a pragmatic and dynamic leader. During this interim period, Mr. Aliyev intends to further develop the long-term strategic vision for the Company and continue developing close relations with the investment community.

Upon his appointment as CEO, Mr. Aliyev said; "My objective is to join the FML team of management and shareholders in developing the significant potential offered by Frontier's assets, primarily improving the financial parameters of the Company. I am very fortunate to have inherited outstanding management and operations teams, united by their continued commitment to profitable growth and long-term expansion".

Frontier mining holds its AGM today at 10.30am GMT at the London Capital Club, 15 Abchurch Lane EC4N 7BW.

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Notes to Editor

Frontier Mining Limited is a copper exploration and development company with a focus on Kazakhstan. The Company's main activity is the Benkala Copper Project in North West Kazakhstan, which forms part of the Urals copper gold ore belt. Frontier has a 100% interest in Benkala through its subsidiary KazCopper LLP.

Frontier, through its wholly owned subsidiary FML Kazakhstan, also owns Baitemir, a potential copper gold porphyry deposit with associated gold and molybdenum situated on the Naimanjal exploration licence area in North East Kazakhstan.

Frontier maintains an administrative and technical office in Almaty, the former capital city of Kazakhstan and the main business centre in the South East. The Company also maintains offices in Aktyubinsk and Semipalatinsk, close to the Benkala and Baitemir operations respectively.

Benkala

A Competent Persons Report completed by Wardell Armstrong International ("WAI") in June 2010, estimated the oxide section of the Benkala project, which represents development of only ~10% of the total resource at Benkala, to have a NPV of $190 million, based on 0.5% diluted copper grade, 63% recovery and 185,000 tonnes of contained metal at a 6,000 USD per tonne copper price. Frontier will use the production platform of its operating SX-EW project to finance further evaluation and technical studies required to further expand production beyond 10,000 tonnes per annum and extend production from the oxides in addition to advancing development of the significant Benkala sulphide resources.

WAI updated their Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource estimate in February 2011, significantly increasing the measured and indicated resource for both oxide and sulphide ores. The oxide resource has increased by a total of 9.72kt to 174.38kt (+5.9%) and the sulphide resource by 65.54kt to 779.28kt (+9.2%) of copper. As well as the overall increase, both ore types now have significantly more resource in the measured category and there has been an increase in the average oxide grade percentage. In addition, the overall inferred resource has also increased by 42.8kt to 607.70kt of copper (+7.6%).

In January 2012 Frontier added the South Benkala mining area to its existing Benkala licence. The South Benkala area is approximately 10 kilometres south of Benkala and has a GKZ resource estimate of 94.5kt of oxide and 515.1kt of sulphide copper.

Baitemir

Baitemir was identified as the most attractive deposit on the Naimanjal licence area and an exploration drill program was developed to confirm the size and grades of the deposit. Frontier has now drilled almost 16,000 metres and, on the basis of positive results, has an additional 1,000 metre drilling programme for 2012. The Company is working to further define the mineral inventory, anticipating the generation of a mineral resource prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the JORC Code (2004).

Issued Share Capital

Frontier Mining's shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Frontier has 1,860,913,920 ordinary shares issued.

For further information please visit: www.frontiermining.com