Rosebank Regulatory News (ROSE)

21 Nov 2007 07:01

Vane Minerals PLC21 November 2007 21 November 2007 VANE Minerals Plc (AIM:VML) Start-up of Mill and Flotation Plant & Option to Purchase Agreement on Silver /Gold Prospect VANE Minerals Plc (the "Company") and its 100% owned Mexican subsidiary,Minerales VANE SA de CV, are pleased to announce the startup of its 120 tonnesper day mill/flotation plant located at San Dieguito de Arriba, some 30 km NNWof the Company's underground Diablito silver/gold mine. As a result of operating its own mill, the Company has been able to reduce theore cut off grade at the Diablito mine and there is now over 15,000 tonnes ofore stockpiled awaiting processing. It is planned to utilize the lower gradematerial first in the 2 to 4 week start up period during which the mill will befine tuned to optimize recovery. An "Option to Purchase Agreement" on the Bonanza silver/gold prospect, located15 km SE of the mill at San Dieguito de Arriba has been finalized. The blockedportal has been reopened and underground sampling of the steeply dipping quartzvein is in progress to confirm old rib sampling which indicated approximately18,000 tonnes of readily available vein material between the surface and the 355metre elevation. Historic data available to the Company indicate the veinmaterial sampled and drilled by Industrias Penoles S.A. de C.V. in 1986 averaged350 g/T Ag and 3.0 g/T Au. The vein material appears to be ideally suited forsupplemental feed to the mill in San Dieguito de Arriba. Dependent on the confirmation of the old sample results, a drilling program toconfirm and expand this potential resource will be initiated in Q1 2008. Theagreement consists of staged payments up to April 2009 and can be terminated bythe Company at any point with no further payments required. Enquiries: VANE Minerals Plc Westwind Partners Ambrian Partners Limited Parkgreen CommunicationsMatthew Idiens Paul Newman Richard Brown Beth Harris/Laura Llewelyn+44 (0) 20 7667 6322 +44 (0) 20 7290 9713 +44 (0) 20 7776 6417 +44 (0) 20 7851 7480 For further information, please review: www.vaneminerals.com. About VANE Minerals: VANE Minerals was founded by the former international exploration team ofFreeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., one of the world's largest producers ofcopper and gold. The Company has assembled a highly qualified and experiencedmanagement team with a proven track record in exploration and development, whohave spent their entire careers searching for and defining large-scale mineraldeposits. The Company is using the silver/gold production at its Diablito Mine in Mexicoto help fund exploration work across its attractive portfolio. Since December 2004, VANE has built up a substantial uranium portfolio ofproperties in the Colorado Plateau region, initially targeting the Arizona stripwhich holds the highest grade deposits in the US, contained in breccia pipes. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange