ZOE.L Regulatory News (ZOE)

20 July 2017

Highlands Natural Resources plc ('Highlands' or 'the Company')

Rig Mobilization and Drilling Timeline for East Denver Project

Highlands, the London-listed natural resources company, is pleased to announce that it has selected a drilling rig and related service providers for its East Denver Niobrara Project ("East Denver"), a shale oil and gas project in Colorado. Subject to the completion of Highlands' fundraising which was announced on 6 July 2017, the rig will mobilize to the Company's East Denver location in the first week of August and the first well, Wildhorse 5-64 15-16-1BHZ ("Wildhorse"), is expected to spud around the middle of that month. The expected drilling timeline is approximately two weeks, and upon reaching terminal depth Highlands will update the market with drilling results.

Highlands' Chairman and CEO Robert Price said, "Today is in many ways the culmination of our dedicated team's efforts over the past two years. With our up to US$32.65 million funding from Raisa as well as £2.59 million funding from PrimaryBid and other placees announced earlier this month, we are now delighted to announce the final stages of our preparation to spud our first well at East Denver, Wildhorse, in the coming weeks. This well is located within two miles of other highly productive horizontal wells in the Niobrara shale and I am looking forward to updating our investors with the drilling results later in the summer."

Information on Highlands' Upcoming General Meeting

The Company's General Meeting will be held at 11:00 AM (BST) on 31 July 2017 at the offices of DAC Beachcroft LLP located at 100 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1BN.

THIS RELEASE CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.highlandsnr.com, or contact:

Notes to Editors

Highlands (LSE: HNR.L) is a London-listed natural resources company with a portfolio of high-potential oil, gas and helium assets and technologies. The company's core projects include:

· East Denver Niobrara: a farm-in opportunity for horizontal oil and gas wells targeting the Niobrara shale formation in a well-studied area of the Denver Julesburg Basin.

· DT Ultravert: a re-fracking and parent well protection technology with one patent granted and additional patents pending in the United States and internationally. Highlands is advancing commercial conversations with a range of oil and gas operators to create revenue-sharing opportunities for DT Ultravert applications.

· Helios Two: a 105,000+ acre helium and natural gas prospect in SE Montana with drilling and assessment operations ongoing.