RLD.L Regulatory News (RLD)

5 February 2018

Richland Resources Ltd

("Richland" or the "Company")

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

and

Issue of Equity

Richland (AIM: RLD), the gemstones producer and developer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony ("Tony") Brooke to the Board as its new Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. Mr Brooke has previously acted as Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Capricorn Sapphire Pty Limited ("Capricorn Sapphire"), and been assisting with its sales and marketing initiatives alongside his team at Gem Dreams Co. Limited ("Gem Dreams"), as set out in the Company's announcement of 23 November 2016.

Further to the Company's announcement of 15 January 2018, Dr. Bernard Olivier has accordingly resigned as Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company also with immediate effect in order to pursue his other interests. The Company would like to thank Dr. Olivier for his significant contributions to the Company's development, initially in Tanzania and more recently in relation to the establishment and commissioning of the Company's Capricorn Sapphire mine.

Mr Brooke is a leading expert in the gemstone industry and will be using his expertise and experience to further develop the Company's Capricorn Sapphire mine in Queensland, Australia. An overview of his industry experience is set out below:

Mr Brooke, in conjunction with the rest of the Board, has commenced a strategic review of the Company's Capricorn Sapphire mining, marketing and sales operations to assess how the Company can best leverage its position as the owner of one of the world's largest sapphire mines operated to the highest international corporate social responsibility standards. The Company will make a further announcement in due course when this review is concluded and in the meantime mining operations remain suspended whilst the Company continues to focus on its exploration programme targeting potential resource expansion as set out in its announcement of 11 December 2017.

Issue of Equity

Pursuant to certain pre-existing contractual arrangements between Capricorn Sapphire, Tony Brooke and Gem Dreams in connection with the abovementioned sales and marketing assistance and the Company's beneficiation strategy, the Company has today issued 3,581,237 new common shares of US$0.0003 each in the capital of the Company ("Common Shares") to Tony Brooke in respect of sales commissions of US$42,717 earned during the period from 1 December 2016 to 31st December 2017 (the "Commission Shares"). The number of Commission Shares has been calculated on the basis of the Company's volume weighted average share price of 0.84p pence for the year ended 30th November 2017 and using a foreign exchange rate of GBP1 = U$1.42.

Further to Mr Brooke's appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Richland, Capricorn Sapphire has entered into a new sales support agreement with Gem Dreams for a fixed fee of US$2,500 per month, with no commission arrangements, in order to provide services in support of the sale of Capricorn Sapphire's products in Thailand (on an exclusive basis) and elsewhere (on a non-exclusive basis) including:

· supporting/arranging grading of material;

· cutting of gemstones;

· import & export clearance;

· sales accounting; and

· sales collection and stock record keeping.

All pre-existing commission and service arrangements between Capricorn Sapphire and Gem Dreams have accordingly been terminated.

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Commission Shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Common Shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective and that dealings in the Commission Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 9 February 2018. Following Admission, the Company will have 478,233,319 Common Shares with voting rights in issue and holds a further 7,275,000 Common Shares in treasury.

Following the issue of the Commission Shares, Mr Brooke's aggregate interest in the Company will be 4,214,594 Common Shares representing approximately 0.88 per cent. of the Company's enlarged issued share capital with voting rights.

Additional information

The following information is provided in accordance with paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies in relation to the appointment of Mr Brooke:

Anthony ("Tony") Peter Brooke (aged 58):

There is no other information that is required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph (g) of Schedule Two to the AIM Rules for Companies.

Edward Nealon, Non-Executive Chairman of Richland, today commented:

"I am most pleased that Tony, with his wealth of gemstone industry knowledge and experience, has decided to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Company and look forward to working closely with him.

"I would like to thank Bernard for his significant contribution to the Company's development from his early days as an exploration geologist through to his more recent role as Chief Executive Officer, and wish him well for the future."

For further information, please contact:

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

Further information is available on the Company's website: www.richlandresourcesltd.com. Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.