Strategic Minerals Regulatory News (SML)

18 May 2016

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Drilling Commenced at Hanns Camp Nickel-Copper Project

Highlights:

· Hanns Camp drill programme has commenced

· Three nickel-copper sulphide targets to be tested

· Drilling completion expected within four to six weeks

Strategic Minerals PLC (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), the minerals production and development company, is pleased to announce that resources have been mobilised and the Hanns Camp maiden drilling programme has commenced on schedule. The programme has been planned to consist of three drill holes, each targeting a different target - Forest, Stirling and Canning - within the Hanns Camp prospect at the Company's Laverton Project.

The planned programme will be the first nickel focused drilling at Hanns Camp since the late 1970s and it follows extensive analysis of historical records with recent electromagnetic ("EM") survey data. The programme consists of three drill holes, with the third dependent on success in the first two, and totals a depth of 1,050 metres in aggregate. The drilling programme is expected to be completed within four to six weeks, before being sampled and sent for analysis.

Each drilling target is spaced approximately 800 metres apart in a NNW-SSE direction and comprise of a strong electromagnetic (EM) conductor, beneath anomalous copper-nickel geochemistry, defined from historic regolith sampling.

All drill holes are targeting nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation for which Hanns Camp has been identified as a potential host. Hanns Camp is considered to be one of the most compelling greenfield nickel-sulphide exploration opportunities in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. 

Hanns Camp forms part of the Laverton Project, of which Strategic Minerals recently secured an interest via its agreement to acquire up to 50% of Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd ("CARE"). Hanns Camp is located 250km north-east of the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 12km north-east of the town of Laverton in the North-Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. The prospect is easily accessible using existing tracks from Laverton, one of the main Goldfields towns.

A map of the region and the proposed drilling targets can be found on the Company's website under the CARE project section.

The drilling programme is to be funded through the equity subscription of AUD 250,000-00 in CARE, which is to be provided by the Company in tranches during the course of the programme through the taking up of the subscription option it has in CARE as announced on 1 February 2016. At the conclusion of this funding, the Company will hold 50% of the equity in CARE.

The Company's Managing Director, John Peters, said:

 "The commencement of drilling represents the hard work put into the analysis and logistics associated with identifying and testing the magnetic anomalies identified at Hanns Camp. We are pleased that we have stayed consistent with the timings previously provided to the market and look forward keeping the market fully informed of the progress of drilling at this exciting time. "

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Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals plc is a minerals production and development company registered in the UK and listed on the AIM market (AIM: SML) of the London Stock Exchange. The Company has projects in the United States of America and Australia. The Company is focused on acquiring and developing cash generative, high quality projects which meet local market demand for commodities. 

In September 2011, Strategic Minerals purchased its first cash generating asset, the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA which it brought into production in 2012 and continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. The Company acquired, in January 2016, a right to take up a 50% interest in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd, which holds tenements in Western Australia and the Northern Territory that are prospective for nickel sulphides and rare earths.