Patent Granted in China

31 March 2016

Alexander Mining plc

("Alexander" or "the Company")

Overarching AmmLeach® Patent Granted in China for Method for Ammoniacal Leaching

Alexander is pleased to report that it has received notification that its subsidiary, MetaLeach Limited ("MetaLeach"), has been granted a patent for a Method for Ammoniacal Leaching (China patent number ZL201210132455.X). This patent forms part of MetaLeach's family of core AmmLeach® technologies and has a standard term of 20 years from the effective date of 11 July 2008 (being the date of original filing).

Martin Rosser, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are most pleased with the grant of our first ever patent in China for a Method for Ammoniacal Leaching. The patent is the overarching AmmLeach® patent in our intellectual property portfolio and underpins all applications of the AmmLeach® technology."

The granted China patent encompasses methods for leaching one or more target metals from an ore, the methods comprising the steps of: curing the ore to be leached through the application of an aqueous solution of a curing agent, producing a cured ore; leaching the cured ore at atmospheric pressure through the application of an ammonium carbonate solution containing free ammonia, producing a pregnant leach solution; and passing the pregnant leach solution to a means for metals recovery.

ENDS

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