Exercise of Options and Total Voting Rights

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.

19th February 2019

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")

Directors Exercise 17.5m Options

Managing Director Becomes Second Largest Shareholder

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials, is pleased to announce that it has received notices of exercise and payment of £0.01 per ordinary share of 0.1 pence each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Share"), in relation to the exercise of 17,500,000 existing vested options by Managing Director, John Peters and Chairman, Alan Broome. Accordingly, Mr. Peters has subscribed for 16,000,000 new Ordinary Shares and Mr. Broome has subscribed for 1,500,000 new Ordinary Shares.

Upon allocation of these new Ordinary Shares, Mr. Peters will hold 50,500,000 Ordinary Shares with no further vested options in 2019 and Mr. Broome will hold 6,147,319 Ordinary Shares with no further vested options in 2019.

Highlights:-

· Managing Director to becomes a significant shareholder with 3.6% of total issued share capital

· Chairman increases his stake in the Company by 32% to 0.44% of total issued share capital

· Total Directors' shareholding, following exercise, represents 7.64% of issued capital (107,011,319 shares)

Commenting, John Peters, Managing Director, Strategic Minerals, said:

"The exercise of options by the Chairman and I signals the confidence that we have in the Company's exciting portfolio. We believe that there is significant potential upside in each of our projects and we are proud to remain committed to Strategic Minerals for the long run."

Admission to AIM and Total Voting Rights

Application will be made for admission of these 17,500,000 new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take place and that trading will commence on AIM at 8.00 a.m. on 27 February 2019.

Following Admission, there will be a total of 1,401,193,127 Ordinary Shares in issue. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. Consequently, 1,401,193,127 is the figure which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals Plc is an AIM-quoted, operating minerals company actively developing projects prospective for battery materials. It has an operation in the United States of America and 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 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 orientated to supplying the burgeoning electric vehicle/battery market.

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 and the Northern Territory that are prospective for cobalt, gold, 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 that have been 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. The 12-hole 2018 drilling programme has been completed and the subsequent resource update was announced in February 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 is currently working to bring this into operation in 2019.

PDMR Disclosure

The notifications below, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, provide further detail on the director's share dealing.

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them.