Weatherly International Plc Regulatory News (WTI)

12/11/2012

Weatherly International plc

("Weatherly" or the "Company")

Tschudi Feasibility Study Update

Weatherly (AIM: WTI) is pleased to update the market on the progress of its feasibility study for the development of the Tschudi open pit copper mine

Highlights:

·; Several important economic parameters defined as part of the study optimisation process

·; An increase in mine reserve grade to 0.95% up from 0.87%

·; Decrease in stripping ratio to 7.45:1 from 7.6:1

·; Increase in copper recovery to 85% up from 83%

·; Increase in design production capacity of copper cathode to 17ktpa up from 15ktpa

·; Final operating and capital costs dependent upon outcome of discussion with a number of major contracting groups

·; The final feasibility study due in H2 2012, pending satisfactory conclusion of the above negotiations

Rod Webster, the CEO of Weatherly commented:

"We are very pleased with the outcome of the Tschudi feasibility study optimisation work to date. With improvements in reserve grade, recovery and stripping ratio, we are now seeing a more robust project, which should make financing the construction of the mine easier. We are now well positioned to complete the full feasibility study and advance the Tschudi project to production."

Background

The Tschudi deposit is located in northern Namibia 20 km west of the historical mining town of Tsumeb. The Company is looking to develop the project which contains a resource of 50.1mt grading 0.86% Cu.1 as a heap leach, solvent-extraction electrowinning ("SX-EW") operation.

In July 2012, the Company announced that it was investigating ways of reducing costs and increasing revenue to improve the projects economics.2 The results of this work are now available and the more important outcomes are summarised below.

Pit Design

The initial open pit design (Coffey) has been refined to better accommodate the chosen equipment and to smooth out the waste stripping required for the various interim stages. A new 'in footwall' haulage road has been added and some revision of the internal road layouts has been made to facilitate achieving the desired tonnes. The net result is a small reduction in both the total amount of material moved and the overall stripping ratio from 7.6:1 to 7.45:1.3

The use of smaller blocks (Surpac model) in the scheduling process, and constraints on mining beyond the footwall geological boundary, have seen the overall dilution reduce from 12% to approximately 5%.4 This has resulted in slightly less ore tonnes but an increase in overall grade.

The new mine reserve, based on the revised life of mine ("LOM") schedule is now 22.7mt grading 0.95% Cu.3

Process Design 

The definitive testwork is being carried out at Mintek's South African laboratory under the supervision of the Brisbane based consultancy Miller Metallurgical Services. Optimum crush sizes had already been established by a series of mini column tests undertaken at the Amdel laboratory in Perth. At Mintek, the three dominant ore types, oxide, transition and sulphide, were crushed and blended to replicate as closely as possible the mine feed based on the LOM schedule. The loaded columns are irrigated with dilute sulphuric acid in closed circuit to determine leach times, acid consumption and final copper recoveries. The ore and subsequent residues in the columns were subjected to a number of tests to determine porosity limits at varying bearing pressures. In all, 21 columns ranging from 2m to 6 min height ran from January to October this year. The key results 5 are summarised below:

Ore type Crush size Lift height Acid Copper recover

Consumption

Oxides P80 < 25mm 4m 17kg/t 85%

Transition & Sulphides P80 < 12mm 6m 11 kg/t 85%

Acid consumption was highest with the shallow oxides, reducing with depth as the transition and sulphide ores enter the feed. The sulphides are mildly acid generating which not only reduces the acid requirement but means that the ore can be over-stacked without intermediate liners and can continue to be leached at marginal cost.

Recoveries of total copper varied from a low of 80% for some of the low grade oxide samples to a high of 94% for some of the transition ores. Generally speaking, over 92% of the soluble copper was taken up in solution. Given the non-soluble component is, on average, less than 8% of total copper, overall recovery is expected to exceed 85% of the total copper contained.

Incorporating the latest results into the DFS, the project is now defined as follows:

LOM 11 years

Open pit material mined 192 million tonnes

Ore mined 22.7 million tonnes

Copper recovered (cathode) 184,000 tonnes

Ave annual LOM production (cathode) 16,750 tonnes per annum

Design production rate (excluding ramp up and down) 17,000 tonnes per annum

Commercial

The project benefits from its proximity to well developed infrastructure, particularly with respect to the supply of the two major operating cost inputs, power and acid. Power will be sourced from the national grid substation located 13 km from the mine site. The Company is in the process of negotiating a long term power supply agreement (similar to the one it has for its underground mines) with the government utility, Nampower.

 Acid is expected to be sourced from the Tsumeb smelter some 20km east of the mine site. The new owners (Dundee Precious Metals) are intending to build an acid plant as part of a major expansion and environmental upgrade of the facility. The acid plant is scheduled to come on line in the third quarter of 2014, the same time as the Tschudi project is expected to begin production. Negotiations to conclude a long term acid supply agreement are in progress.

The Company is in discussion with a number of major contracting groups covering mining, crushing, agglomerating and stacking. Proposals under consideration include financing of the facilities as well as an operating agreement and, depending on the outcome, will have a significant bearing on the final capital and operating costs for the project. These discussions are well advanced and should be concluded before the end of the year.

Whilst it is the Company's intention to announce the results of the study before the end of the year, the actual date of release will be dictated to a large extent by the satisfactory conclusion of the negotiations referred to above.

Note:

1 RNS 8476W Feb 2012

2 RNS 09131 Jul, 2012

3 Cameron Mining Consultants (Beijing)

4 Riaan Herman Consulting RHC (Johanesburg)

5 Miller Metallurgical Consultants (Bribane)/ Mintek (Johanesburg)

Competent Persons Statement

The technical information in this announcement has been compiled, reviewed and approved by Tony Cameron of Cameron Mining Consultants (Beijing) BE (Mining) Dip Bus M Comm Law FAusIMM, Riaan Herman of Riaan Herman Consulting RHC (Johanesburg) Pr.Sci.Nat, with SACNASP, Graeme Miller of Miller Metallurgical Consultants (Bribane) CP Met, professional engineer OLD (chemical) FAusIMM, each of whom have been employed as independent consultants of the Company and have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation, type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person and have consented to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears herein.

About Weatherly

 Weatherly is an AIM listed, copper focused mining company, the principal assets of which are located in Namibia. It currently has two producing copper mines (Otjihase and Matchless), and is progressing feasibility studies on projects which will enable Weatherly to achieve its medium term strategy of establishing a copper mining business capable of sustaining approximately 20,000tpa of copper at an average industry cost of production for at least ten years.

The Company also has a 25% stake in an AIM listed company, China Africa Resources Plc (CAF), which is currently focused on the development of the lead/zinc project at Berg Aukas in Northern Namibia.

For further information please contact:

Weatherly International Plc +44 (0) 20 7917 2989

Rod Webster, Chief Executive Officer

Dean Friday, Investor Relations

Canaccord Genuity Limited +44 (0) 20 7523 8000

Andrew Chubb, Sebastian Jones