Award of licences

Alba Mineral Resources PLC
25 October 2006





Alba Mineral Resources plc

('Alba' or 'the Company')



Acquisition of Additional Swedish Exploration Licences

Alba Mineral Resources plc, the UK based exploration company with a diversified
commodities portfolio, announces the award of three exploration licences for
nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and palladium (totalling 4,863
hectares) in southern Sweden.  These acquisitions form the second part of a
strategic partnership with Altius Minerals Corporation (TSX-V: ALS) to explore
for magmatic nickel sulphide deposits in Scandinavia. Work programmes have
commenced and field programmes are scheduled for early Q2 2007.

Highlights

•         Three new exploration licences awarded to Alba in areas considered
highly prospective for nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and
palladium with mineralization showing comparisons to previously worked mines in
Scandinavia



•         The licence at Kleva contains a past-producing nickel-copper mine (ca.
54,000 tonnes of ore with a grade of 1.9% Ni) that has an associated magnetic
anomaly and anomalies of a similar magnitude remain untested within the licence
area.



Michael Nott, Managing Director, Alba Mineral Resources commented; 'We are very
excited by the untested magnetic anomalies on the Kleva licence, especially when
you note that one magnetic anomaly is coincident with the former nickel mine.
Our new southern Swedish licences present further excellent targets for Alba's
activities in Sweden, complementing our four previously announced properties in
the north of the country. The Company now has seven licences in Sweden, totaling
9,363 hectares, giving us a strong ground position in prospective geological
areas.  I believe our ground in Sweden, in conjunction with our Arthrath nickel
project in Scotland, which is worked in partnership with Inco, means Alba is
fast becoming a significant player in nickel exploration in Europe at a time of
record nickel prices'.



Granting of Exploration Licences

A work programme has commenced with database construction and detailed target
generation studies with field sampling programmes planned during the first half
of 2007.

The licences award Alba the rights to explore for nickel (Ni), copper (Cu),
cobalt (Co), gold (Au), silver (Ag) and platinum group metals (PGM). The three
awarded exploration licences in the Jonkoping District, southern Sweden, are as
follows:

  • Kleva (4400 hectares)
  • Lindas (209.5 hectares)
  • Bjorkmossa (253.5 hectares)

In accordance with the Swedish mining law, licences can only be explored by a
Swedish registered company.  Alba Mineral Resources Sweden AB has been
established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alba to comply with this law and
conduct this exploration work.



Alba has two further licences under application in Sweden for Ni-Cu-Co-PGM.  One
licence is located in the Jonkoping District, and the second is in the Vindeln
Nickel Belt of the Vasterbotten District.  A further announcement will be made
regarding the status of these licences.



ENDS

For further information contact:

Michael Nott, Managing Director
Alba Mineral Resources plc    Tel: [phone]

Justine Howarth/ Victoria Thomas
Parkgreen Communications. Tel: [phone]

Liam Murray

City Financial Associates                   Tel: [phone]



Notes to Editors

Alba Mineral Resources plc is a committed explorer with a diversified commodity
portfolio, primarily nickel, gold, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals,
focussed on the Appalachian-Caledonide trend, a zone extending from the eastern
seaboard of North America to Scandinavia. Alba currently has interests in a
number of well researched properties in Scotland, Ireland and Sweden, owned in
its own right or in conjunction with other parties.

Geology and Mineral Potential of the Licences



The three licences awarded in the Jonkoping District are underlain by ca. 1.85
Ga mafic (gabbronorite, gabbro and diorite) intrusions which make up the
Trans-Scandinavian Igneous Belt.  This belt of mafic intrusive rocks extends
northward into Norway and hosts the former Espedalen nickel mine (1000 tonnes of
nickel with an average grade of 1.0%).  The Kleva licence is centred on the
former Kleva nickel-copper mine, sporadically mined between 1845 and 1920, which
produced a total of 1200 tonnes nickel and 500 tonnes of copper from ore with an
average grade of  1.9 % Ni, 0.2 % copper and 0.8 % cobalt.   The ore occurs as
two zones of massive sulphides in irregular pipe and stock-like bodies
surrounded by disseminated sulphides in the gabbronorite.  Airborne geophysics
flown by the Swedish Geological Survey (SGU) identified a magnetic anomaly
associated with the Kleva mine and several anomalies of a similar magnitude
remain to be tested on the licence.


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