Minco PLC Regulatory News (MIO)

4 June 2013

Minco Plc - Annual Report & Accounts

Dublin, 4 June 2013 - Minco Plc (AIM-"MIO") (the Company), is pleased to announce that its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 have been published today and are being posted to shareholders.

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2177G_-2013-6-4.pdf 

Copies of these documents are available on the Company's website www.minco.ie and will also be available on request for one month from 7 June 2013, free of charge, from the Company's registered office at 27 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

In his Chairman's Letter to Shareholders,John F. Kearney Chairman & Chief Executive, said:

"The year since our last Annual Report has been a busy and productive time for Minco plc.

In April 2012, Minco entered into a multi-part agreement with Buchans Minerals Corporation under which Minco acquired a 10% shareholding in Buchans and the right to earn interests in Buchans zinc/lead projects in Newfoundland and its manganese project in New Brunswick, Canada.

Minco completed an 8,184 meter drill programme in 58 drill holes on the Lundberg base metal deposit in central Newfoundland in 2012 and in March 2013 Minco announced a new resource estimate that successfully upgraded the categorization of the resource, as well as increased the overall tonnage of the Lundberg deposit.

In early 2013 Minco completed the drilling of 16 surface diamond drill holes with a total of 4,082 metres on the Plymouth manganese deposit located on the Woodstock Project in New Brunswick, and in May 2013 announced a new inferred resource of 43.7 million tonnes, grading 9.98% manganese for the Plymouth deposit.

In November 2012, Minco commenced a new exploration drill programme in the Northern Pennine Orefield in northern England, an opportunity Minco had been developing for a number of years and which we believe presents a very exciting target for the discovery of a new large zinc-lead deposit. The first four holes in the Pennines all intersected widespread, albeit lower grade, mineralization.

In April 2013 Minco entered into an arrangement agreement to acquire all of the shares of Buchans Minerals Corporation. Completion of the acquisition of Buchans, which is subject to approval at a meeting of Buchans shareholders to be held at the end of June 2013, will create a premier base metals exploration and development company with advanced projects in established mining jurisdictions in eastern Canada, together with Minco's existing exploration projects in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In April 2013 Terence McKillen retired as Chief Executive but will continue to advise Minco as a member of the Board of Directors and in a consulting capacity. Terence had been Chief Executive of Minco since 2008 and previously Exploration Director since 1997.

Minco's Strong Financial Position

Minco is in a strong and enviable cash position, enabling Minco to pursue investment and acquisition opportunities, at a time when the resource financing market for junior resource is closed tight.

At 31 December 2012 Minco had cash and cash equivalents of US$15.1 million, compared to US$20.2 million at December 31, 2011, with the reduction primarily as a result of the investment in Buchans and the drilling programmes on Lundberg.

Minco recorded a loss for the year ended 31 December 2012 of US$2.3 million. The loss included an impairment charge on receivables of $865,000, a change in fair value of financial assets of $308,000, and a prior year income tax under provision of $314,000. For the year ended 31 December 2011, the Company recorded a profit of US$5.2 million, which included a gain of $5.9 million on the sale of a mineral property, an impairment charge on receivables of $850,000 and an income tax provision of $500,000.

The conversion of some assets and liabilities to US dollars resulted in a foreign exchange loss of $250,000 for the year ended 31 December 2012 compared to a foreign exchange gain of US$1,600,000 in 2011.

Minco holds 30 million shares, representing a 29% interest, in Xtierra Inc. which holds interests in base and precious metal mineral properties in Mexico, and15.3 million shares, representing a 10% interest, in Buchans Minerals Corporation.

Minco also holds a 20% interest in an Irish prospecting license in joint venture with Tara-Boliden, adjacent to Boliden's large Tara zinc lead mine at Navan, Ireland, and a 2% net smelter royalty in the Curraghinalt gold deposit in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, currently being explored by Dalradian Gold.

Buchans Mine - Lundberg Deposit - Newfoundland

Minco completed an 8,184 meter drill programme in 58 new drill holes in 2012 and in March 2013 announced that a new resource estimate for the Lundberg base metal deposit has successfully upgraded the categorization of the resource, as well as increasing the overall tonnage, to an indicated resource of 23.44 million tonnes and an additional inferred resource of 4.31 million tonnes, from the previously estimated inferred resource of 21.82 million tonnes.

Completion of this new indicated resource paves the way for the design of an open pit mining plan and more detailed metallurgical studies, leading towards the calculation of a mineable reserve and completion of a pre-feasibility study that will further assess the viability of building a mine and moving the Lundberg project into production.

Woodstock Manganese Project- New Brunswick

At the end of October 2012, following a six-month evaluation period, Minco negotiated the right to earn, in stages, up to a 50% interest in Buchans Woodstock manganese property in New Brunswick, Canada.

Following the drilling by Minco of 16 surface diamond drill holes with a total of 4,082 metres completed in 2013 Minco announced a new inferred resource of 43.7 million tonnes, grading 9.98% manganese, for the Plymouth deposit located on the Woodstock manganese project.

Minco's drilling validated the previous historical estimate and confirmed a significant near surface manganese resource at Woodstock. The completion of this new 43.7 million tonne inferred resource estimate is a significant positive development for the Woodstock project as it enables Minco to undertake a preliminary economic assessment to assess the project's potential for development as an open-pit mine and processing facility.

The Woodstock manganese project in New Brunswick appears to have the possibility to be developed into a world class asset with the potential to be developed into a significant producer of electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) and electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD). EMM is used primarily in the production of stainless steel and EMD is used primarily in automotive battery technology.

Exploring for zinc in the Pennines, England

Following the sale of Pallas Green to Xstrata Zinc in 2011, Minco has been developing new geological ideas and reviewing a number of exploration properties in Ireland and the UK with the objective of identifying a quality zinc-lead exploration opportunity based on the success of the Irish-type geological model successfully applied by Minco in the identification, discovery and subsequent exploration of the Pallas Green zinc/lead deposits in Ireland.

In November, 2012, Minco commenced a new exploration initiative in the North Pennine Orefield located in the northern English counties of Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham.

The first phase of exploration drilling encountered widespread, albeit lower grade, mineralization, over broad intervals, in all of the four widely spaced drill holes completed to date. Two mineralised intersections of 12.2% Zn and 11.3% Zn in the third drill hole were particularly encouraging and demonstrate that economic grade mineralization can exist at the target debt about 350 to 400 meters below surface.

Outlook 2013

The acquisition of Buchans represents an excellent value opportunity for Minco. We believe that consolidating the ownership of the Lundberg base metal project in central Newfoundland and the Woodstock manganese project in New Brunswick is a major step towards achieving our strategy of creating a strong intermediate base metal company, with an attractive growth profile focused on enhancing shareholder value.

The Lundberg lead/zinc project is at pre-feasibility study stage and the Woodstock manganese project is at preliminary economic assessment.

Minco is also advancing to the second phase of exploration for zinc in the Pennines and plans to drill a further four additional exploration holes in Cumbria and Northumberland.

Meanwhile, Minco remains in a healthy financial position and we continue to review a number of other investment and acquisition opportunities.

We would like to thank all Minco shareholders for their continued confidence and support."

ABOUT MINCO

Minco Plc, registered in the Republic of Ireland and listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange ("MIO"), is an exploration and development company, currently engaged in zinc-lead exploration in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland and in evaluating a manganese project in New Brunswick, Canada and with investments in zinc‐silver projects in Mexico through holding 30 million shares (approximately 29%) in Xtierra Inc. listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX.V-"XAG").

On April 30, 2013 Minco announced that it had entered into an agreement to complete a business combination with Buchan's Minerals Corporation ("BMC" - TSX.V), subject to approval of Buchans shareholders, pursuant to which Minco will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Buchans that it does not already own, in exchange for shares of Minco by way of a statutory scheme of arrangement on the basis of 0.826 of a Minco shares for each share of Buchans. Upon completion of the acquisition of Buchans, Minco will hold 100% of both the Lundberg Project and the Woodstock Project.

Minco already holds 15.4 million shares (approximately 10%) of Buchans.

Minco also holds a 2% NSR royalty on the Curraghinalt gold property in Northern Ireland which is being explored by Dalradian Resources Inc. (TSX-"DNA").

For further information of Minco refer to Minco's website at www.minco.ie.

For further information, www.minco.ie or contact:

John Kearney: Chairman and Chief Executive +1 416 362 6686

Danesh Varma: CFO & Company Secretary +44 (0) 8452 606 034

Peter McParland: Director - Ireland +353 (0)46 907-3709

John Frain/Fergal Meegan: (NOMAD) Davy +353 (0)1 6796363

Chris Rourke/ Guy Wheatley: (Corporate Advisor| Broker)

Beaufort International, London +44 (0)20 7382 8387