Tertiary Minerals Regulatory News (TYM)

31 Jan 2006 15:27

Tertiary Minerals PLC31 January 2006 http://www.tertiaryminerals.com/AIM: TYM TERTIARY MINERALS PLC ANNUAL MEETING TERTIARY ANNOUNCES PROGRESS AT GIANT GHURAYYAH TANTALUM PROJECT • Finalisation Of JV Agreement For World's Largest Tantalum Deposit Due This Quarter • Samples From Deposit Now Being Shipped For Metallurgical Testwork • New Diamond Targets For Sunrise Associate Result From Database Acquisition_________________________________________________________________________ Local funding of up to US$7m, for the full costs of feasibility studies on thegiant Ghurayyah tantalum project by its two powerful Saudi Arabian partners,will give Tertiary Minerals the financial freedom to continue other explorationventures, chairman Patrick Cheetham told the annual meeting in London today. Herevealed that Tertiary's Saudi partners hold significant stakes in major Saudibanks. The full 50:50 Joint Venture Agreement ("JVA") with the Saudi partners isexpected to be signed within the current quarter. More recently, as part of apreliminary agreement, the Saudi consortium completed the £500,000 purchase ofTertiary shares at 10p and, after signing the JVA, can build up to a 15 per centstake through conversion of a loan at the higher of 15p per share or 80 per centof the market price in the 30 days before conversion. Ore samples from Ghurayyah are currently being shipped for metallurgicaltestwork. Mr. Cheetham said demand for tantalum is on a steady climb at around 5 per cent.annually and would be given an added fillip towards the end of this year as theU.S. Strategic Reserve of the mineral - accounting for 10 per cent of annualsupply - was completely run down. Ghurayyah in production at 600,000 lbs oftantalum pentoxide a year could about replace this supply. "New applications of tantalum, for example in the medical field and aerospaceindustry, plus the ongoing development of new electronic devices - mostrequiring tantalum capacitors - makes it an interesting metal for the future. "Although capacitors themselves have become smaller, and use less tantalum,their application has multiplied. For example the latest PlayStation contains 27tantalum-based capacitors". Tertiary directors believe that at the development stage of Ghurayyah - thebiggest known tantalum deposit in the world - bank funding would be obtainedlocally on "soft terms" and could possibly reduce Tertiary's equity requirementsin the 50:50 joint venture to about 6 per cent of the US$100m estimated capitalcost. Turning to Tertiary's 26 per cent stake in associate Sunrise Diamonds, Mr.Cheetham said a first-pass review of the recently acquired BHP Billiton diamondexploration database in Finland had thrown up fresh targets outside the Kuusamoarea where it is already searching for further kimberlite pipes. The company ismoving quickly to establish new claim blocks covering the areas pinpointed, headded. Observing that Tertiary's shareholder base was mostly made up of smallshareholders, he said the Ghurayyah project, because of its size and promisingfuture returns, should soon attract the interest of U.K. institutions to theregister. Further information: Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary Minerals plc. Tel: +44 (0)1625-626203Ron Marshman/John Greenhalgh, City of London PR Limited. Tel: +44 (0)20-7628-5518 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange