Strategic Minerals Regulatory News (SML)

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

24 August 2020

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or the "Company")

Redmoor Project Update

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials, provides an update on progress at its Redmoor Tin and Tungsten project held by the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Cornwall Resources Limited ("CRL").

SML has appointed London-based Natural Resources Global Capital Partners Limited ("NRG") to provide strategic and financial advice regarding advancing the Redmoor Tin and Tungsten project. NRG is an independent advisory firm and merchant bank focused on the global metals and energy industries.

NRG has undertaken an encouraging initial review of the project and is focusing on the inherent value and how best to demonstrate this to potential joint venture partners. Theoretical analysis has identified that a revised mining schedule, focussed on initially targeting the higher-grade material identified in the latest drilling programme, may offer the potential for a superior IRR, enhancing project economics and improving the attractiveness of the project to potential investors.

In order to confirm the results of the internal revisions, CRL has engaged mining consultants Wardell Armstrong International ("WAI"), who undertook the scoping level underground mining study described in the Company's announcement on 16 May 2019. WAI will carry out work to optimise the mining schedule and mine engineering model, as well as mining costs, with a new focus on the identified opportunity to access high grade ore early in the life of the planned mine.

This is expected to result in an updated financial model demonstrating a superior IRR. This work is expected to complete at the end of September, following which the Company will update the market accordingly.

Commenting, Peter Wale, Executive Director of Strategic Minerals and Director of CRL, said:

"We are privileged to be working with NRG and are heartened by their enthusiasm for the Redmoor project and their recognition of value in, what the Board considers, a significant company asset.

"As international emphasis continues to shift towards securing critical minerals supply, having a source of tin and tungsten in Cornwall is expected to prove of even greater strategic importance in the future. As a result, we continue to see interest in Redmoor from investors who understand the globally significant potential of the project. We look forward to informing the market of the results of the updated analysis upon completion of Wardell Armstrong's review."

Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted, operating minerals company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials. It has operations in the United States of America and Australia along with development projects in the UK and Australia. The Company is focused on utilising its operating cash flows, along with capital raisings, to develop high quality projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals being sought in the burgeoning electric vehicle/battery market.

In September 2011, Strategic Minerals acquired the distribution rights to the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA, a cash-generating asset, which it brought into production in 2012 and which continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. This operating revenue stream is utilised to cover company overheads and invest in development projects.

In January 2016, the portfolio was expanded with the acquisition of shares in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd, which holds tenements in Western Australia prospective for cobalt, nickel sulphides and rare earth elements. The Company has since acquired all shares in Central Australian Rare Earths Pty Ltd. In September 2018, the Company entered contracts for the sale of certain CARE tenements identified as gold targets.

In May 2016, the Company entered into an agreement with New Age Exploration Limited and, in February 2017, acquired 50% of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project in Cornwall, UK. The bulk of the funds from the Company's investment were utilised to complete a drilling programme that year. The drilling programme resulted in a significant upgrade of the resource. This was followed in 2018 with a 12-hole 2018 drilling programme, and the resource update that resulted was announced in February 2019. In March 2019, the Company entered into arrangements to acquire the balance of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project. This was completed on 24 July 2019.

In March 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of the Leigh Creek Copper Mine situated in the copper rich belt of South Australia and brought the project into production in April 2019.