Statement re Planned Drilling

Tertiary Minerals PLC
15 August 2002


               TERTIARY TO DRILL TEST NEW TANTALUM BEARING DYKES

                       UNCOVERED BY TRENCHING AT ROSENDAL



  • Channel Sampling Gives Results Of Up To 258 g/t Ta205 over 5.6m
  • Potential for further discoveries

Tertiary Minerals plc is pleased to announce the results of a programme of
trenching and channel sampling to investigate additional tantalum bearing
pegmatite dykes* found during recent prospecting on the Company's Rosendal
tantalum project in Finland.

The trenching programme tested four areas - a series of parallel dykes located
between 50 and 150m north of the west end of the main Rosendal dyke, 2 dykes
located 100m south of the main dyke, a large dyke 1.8km to the east of Rosendal
and a number of dykes located on the Branten claim reservation several
kilometres south-east of Rosendal.

Trenching focussed on dykes with suitable mineralogy and/or containing visible
tantalum minerals and channel sampling was carried out using a portable diamond
saw. Results are summarised in the attached table and include a best result of
5.6 meters grading 258 grammes per tonne (g/t) tantalum pentoxide (Ta205).

All of the dykes sampled contain anomalous levels of tantalum but the dykes
close to Rosendal and the large dyke 1.8km east of Rosendal contain tantalum
values of potential economic interest and present immediate drill targets.
Whilst in some cases these dykes at surface are narrow, they warrant drill
testing below surface as grades and widths have been found to improve
significantly at depth on the main Rosendal dyke.

Outcrop in the Rosendal area is very poor because of the thin veneer of glacial
sediments which blankets the area.  This discovery of economically significant
tantalum grades in a dyke 1.8km east of Rosendal is therefore particularly
encouraging as it indicates that additional deposits could be present beneath
the glacial cover.  This has positive implications for the discovery of further
tantalum resources.

A programme of drilling will start next Monday week to test the newly exposed
dykes and to continue drill definition of the main Rosendal dyke where
mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth and for which the
Geological Survey of Finland has previously estimated a resource of 1.3 million
tonnes grading 289 g/t Ta205 to 100m vertical depth.

Further information:

Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary Minerals plc. Tel: +44 (0)
1625-626203

Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd. Tel: [phone]

* Pegmatite is a special type of coarse-grained granite which can contain
economic concentrations of tantalum minerals. A dyke is an intrusive tabular,
usually sub-vertical, intrusive body of rock. Pegmatite frequently occurs as
dykes.

Significant Trench Sampling Results

Rosendal Project, Finland. August 2002
Locality                                 Dyke                Trench            Sample Width  Ta2O5 (grammes
                                                                                               per tonne)
                                                                                 (metres)
                                          1                     1                  3.28            99
                                                                2                  2.02            79
                                                                3                  1.59           105
                                                                4                  0.71           147

                                          1a                    1                  1.63           144


                                          2                     1                  2.16           184

                                          3                     1                  1.14           309
                                                                2                  1.46           226
                                                                3                  1.46           205
                                                                4                  0.89           330
         50-150m North of  
         Rosendal Main Dyke               4                     1                  2.24           143
                                                                2                  1.64           142
                                                                3                  1.65           123
                                                                4                  2.25           277

                                          5                     1                  2.06            96

                                          6                     1                  1.26           136
                                                                2                  5.61           103
                                                                3                  1.63           106

                                          7                     1                  1.46           116
                                                                2                  1.24            43
                                                                3                  1.01           132

                                          11                    1                  1.12           232
                                                                2                  1.9             84
          100m South of
                                          8                     1                  0.91           223
        Rosendal Main Dyke
                                          8a                    1                  3.78           112


           1.8km NNE of                   10                    1                 12.05            38

        Main Rosendal Dyke                                      2                  5.58           258



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