Acquisition - Copper Prospect

Vane Minerals PLC
21 July 2005


                          VANE Minerals plc (AIM: VML)

                    Acquisition of the Choix Copper Prospect

VANE Minerals PLC ('VANE' or 'the Company') today announces the acquisition by
its wholly owned subsidiary, Minerales VANE SA de CV, of the Choix copper
prospect located near the town of Choix in the northern part of the State of
Sinaloa, Mexico. The Choix prospect is 100% owned by Minerales VANE SA de CV,
with only a finder's fee obligation of US$250,000 payable over the next three
years. The Choix prospect comprises 354 hectares and is an undrilled copper
target located at the southern end of the prolific Arizona-Mexico porphyry
copper belt.

Eighty surface samples have been collected over an area measuring 600 metres by
500 metres and assayed for copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc. Copper values
over 1.0% were obtained in 25 samples, while values between 0.5% and 1.0% copper
were found in an additional 17 samples. Copper minerals observed were primary
chalcocite, digenite and bornite which are partly oxidized to chrysocolla,
tenorite and malachite. Gold values range up to 0.2 ppm while lead and zinc
values are generally low, less than 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. Copper sulphide
mineralisation and their oxidation products occur as veinlets and breccias in
intrusive granite porphyry outcrops which are surrounded by significant areas of
thin colluvial cover.

The terms of the finder's fee are set out below:

$10,000 on the 1st January 2006
$15,000 on the 1st July 2006
$20,000 on the 1st January 2007
$30,000 on the 1st July 2007
$40,000 on the 1st January 2008
$135,000 on the 1st July 2008

VANE has the right to terminate the deal at any time without financial penalty
or further obligations.

Michael Spriggs, Chairman of VANE, commented, 'We are very pleased to have
discovered this promising project. Despite the abundant and widespread nature of
the outcrops of unusually high grade rock and the proximity of almost all
important infrastructure there are no signs of any previous drilling or
systematic sampling anywhere on the property. A mapping, sampling, geophysical
and drilling program is being developed for this readily accessible copper
target.'

Enquiries:

VANE Minerals plc    Seymour Pierce Limited    Parkgreen Communications
Matthew Idiens       Sarah Wharry              Justine Howarth / Cathy Malins
020 7667 6322        020 7107 8000             020 7493 3713



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange