Sirius Minerals Regulatory News (SXX)

3 Aug 2006 07:02

Sirius Exploration plc03 August 2006 FOR RELEASE 7.00AM 3 AUGUST 2006 SIRIUS EXPLORATION PLC ("Sirius Exploration" or "The Company") Sirius Exploration acquires and explores mineral properties AUDITED PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2006 AN EXCELLENT YEAR RESULTS * Flotation on AIM in August 2005 * £865,000 gross funds raised during the year * All planned exploration completed on time and within budget * Increase in net assets to £334,958 (2005: £198,170) HIGHLIGHTS * Joint venture, with Phelps Dodge, completed exploration program at Osogovo and Kadiica, two projects in Macedonia * New claim filed at Kalin Kamen (Eastern boundary of Osogovo), which will be wholly owned by Sirius Exploration * Exploitable grade copper deposit located at Kadiica with the possibility of a mine within two to three years * Agreement signed with Rio Tinto for exclusive use of their exploration database relating to Macedonia for a twelve month period STRATEGY * Sirius Exploration will continue its successful policy of joint ventures and agreements with major mining companies * Plans to use board's corporate finance skills to look for acquisitions * Asking AGM for a substantial increase in the authorised share capital * Seeking the next generation of targets For further information: Sirius Exploration PlcRichard Poulden (Chairman) Tel: 01892 542 444richard.poulden@siriusexploration.com Mobile: 07879 447 601Jonathan Harrison (Financial Director) Mobile: 07803 206085 Beaumont CornishRoland Cornish, (Chairman) Tel: 020 7628 3396 Cubitt ConsultingBrian Coleman-Smith / Nia Thomas / Allison Reid Tel:020 7367 5100 Website: www.siriusexploration.com Sirius Share Price Notes to editor: Sirius Exploration Sirius Exploration PLC (AIM: SXX) is quoted on the Alternative Investment Marketof the London Stock Exchange Ltd in London. The Company acquires and exploresmineral properties. The Company is exploring for copper on its porphyry coppermineral properties located in Macedonia. The Company has a joint venture with Phelps Dodge and has completed a drillingprogram at exploration sites in Macedonia. Sirius Exploration has an agreementwith Rio Tinto to explore their Macedonian database to identify furtherexploration opportunities. Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge is one of the world's leading producers of copper and molybdenum,the largest producer of molybdenum-based chemicals and continuous-cast copperrod, and among the leading producers of magnet wire and carbon black. Thecompany and two divisions, Phelps Dodge Mining Co. and Phelps Dodge Industries,employ approximately 15,500 people worldwide. Rio Tinto Rio Tinto is a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earth'smineral resources. Major products include aluminium, copper, diamonds, energyproducts (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide,salt, talc and zircon), and iron ore. The Group's activities span the world butare strongly represented in Australia and North America with significantbusinesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa. Rio Tinto comprises wholly owned subsidiaries (such as Borax, Comalco,Hamersley, Rio Tinto Coal Australia, Kennecott and Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium),partly owned subsidiaries (Coal & Allied and Palabora) and non-managed,(Escondida) and joint ventures (Grasberg) in which public shareholders, othercompanies or governments are partners. SIRIUS EXPLORATION PLC AUDITED PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2006 CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT This has been an excellent year for your company. We floated on AIM on 1 August 2005 in the extremely difficult conditions of themarket at that time. Including funds raised at the time of flotation and fundssubsequently raised up to the end of July 2006 we have raised a total of£865,000 gross. We have completed the planned exploration on time and within budget. Details ofour exploration activities are included in the operational review by Dr NicholasBadham, your Managing Director but I set out a summary below. Exploration Macedonia Working with our partner Phelps Dodge we completed our drilling program at bothOsogovo and Kadiica, our two exploration properties in Macedonia. At Osogovo weestablished that there was indeed a large copper porphyry deposit but that itwas probably too low grade to be of interest even at current prices. Howeverother survey work suggested the presence of some rich copper skarns on theeastern boundary of our claim. In order to ensure that these will fall withinyour company's claim area we filed a new claim called Kalin Kamen. This extendsthe existing Osogovo claim to the east and north. Kalin Kamen will be whollyowned by your company once the claim is processed. At Kadiica the results were more exciting. Our exploration work thereestablished not only the existence of a supergene blanket but also of a highergrade deposit within the core of the blanket. The next stage of work at Kadiicawill be to delineate the higher grade deposit at the southern end and thenfollow this with experimental mining. We believe that there is a probability ofbeing able to create a small mine at Kadiica within the next two to three years. Lastly, in March 2006 we signed an agreement with Rio Tinto for the exclusiveuse of their exploration database relating to Macedonia for a twelve monthperiod. Whilst Rio did not find anything of interest for them as a result oftheir exploration, Sirius criteria for a suitable target are very different fromthose of Rio and review is underway. Future Strategy We intend to continue our successful policy of joint ventures and agreementswith the major mining companies. However we also intend to utilise your board'scorporate finance skills in looking for acquisitions. These may be small,one-project companies which cannot find funding in today's markets.Alternatively they could be small or medium sized companies on less attractiveexchanges than AIM. To this end we are asking in the AGM for a substantialincrease in the authorised capital of the Company: you can be assured we willuse it wisely. In conclusion I would like to thank all the Directors and staff of Sirius fortheir hard work over the past year and beyond and thank you, my fellowshareholders, for your continuing support. Richard PouldenChairman3 August 2006 MANAGING DIRECTOR'S OPERATIONAL REVIEW Your company's principal activity has been work on the joint venture of twoproperties held with Phelps Dodge Corporation in Macedonia. The essence of thejoint venture agreement is that we would jointly test the two properties for atarget large enough for their corporate development. Should this not be presentthe properties would be handed over to Sirius to explore as we wished. Webelieve that the targets are attractive to Sirius at both properties and thatPhelps Dodge, who are currently transferring one to Sirius as in the agreement,will shortly agree to hand-over the other. At Osogovo, hole 5 was completed to 389m. It has passed through skarn andmarginal porphyry and was in a zone of decreasing, low grades. The hole wasterminated by mutual agreement before the planned end-of-hole at 600m. Assaysare congruent with those from the previous 4 Phelps Dodge holes and indicatethat the Osogovo porphyry is a large low grade (<