Mauritania Fieldwork Begins

Alba Mineral Resources PLC 08 March 2007 Alba Mineral Resources plc ('Alba' or the 'Company') Mauritania Fieldwork Commences Alba Mineral Resources plc, the UK-based exploration company, announces it's 50 per cent. owned UK subsidiary Mauritania Ventures Limited (MVL) has commenced uranium exploration fieldwork in northern Mauritania. Highlights • Commencement of uranium fieldwork in northern Mauritania • Total of 47 targets for follow-up investigation identified by remote sensing alteration and structural study of ASTER satellite images. • Iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential of southern Mauritania under review, with reconnaissance field work planned in Q3 2007 • Three permits covering 4,465 km(2) awarded to date with an additional three uranium exploration permits covering 4,478 km2 pending The Company is pleased to announce that MVL, their 50 per cent. owned UK subsidiary, has commenced fieldwork on their three uranium exploration permits (311, 312 and 313), which cover an area of 4,465 km(2), in northern Mauritania. The initial phase of this fieldwork has recently been completed. Field work is focussed on 47 targets identified by Alba technical staff and an ASTER satellite (remote sensing) study. Work conducted included ground-based radiometric surveying, lithogeochemical sampling and reconnaissance mapping. Analytical results and an interpretation of this phase of fieldwork are pending and will be the subject of a future update. A second field programme is scheduled during Q3 2007 to reconnoitre and investigate permit areas within in the Mauritanide Belt which the Company has under application and believes to have iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential. The Mauritanide Belt hosts the Guelb Moghrein mine (23.7 Mt grading 1.88%. Cu, 1.41 g/t Au, and 143 ppm Co), which lies 260 kilometres to the northwest of MVL's southern licences. The map of the areas of interest can be found at the following link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5811s_-2007-3-8.pdf Michael Nott, Group Managing Director and Chairman, commented, 'We are please to report that our fieldwork in Mauritania has begun, and look forward to reporting the results of our reconnaissance work on the northern permits. Work is progressing and we hope to carry out another field visit shortly. We believe Mauritania to be under-explored and that the country has excellent potential to host additional economic mineralization.' ENDS Enquiries Michael Nott, Managing Director Alba Mineral Resources plc Tel: +44 (0)20 7495 5326 Justine Howarth/ Victoria Thomas Parkgreen Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7851 7480 Liam Murray City Financial Associates Tel: +44 (0)20 7090 7800 Notes to Editors Alba Mineral Resources plc is a committed, technically driven explorer with a commodity focus on uranium, nickel and gold. Alba currently has interests in a number of well researched properties owned in its own right or in conjunction with other parties, primarily in Scotland, Mauritania and Sweden. The Company also has gold and base metal interests in Scotland and Ireland. The Company's overall corporate and exploration strategy will continue to be one of developing a portfolio of well-researched, promising and prospective exploration properties that will be pursued further, either in the Company's own right or in conjunction with other parties. To create value, projects will be either sold outright (in whole or part), spun off into a separate company, joint ventured to include a cash consideration and/ or a 'Net Smelter Return' or developed into operating mines. The Company will have a principal focus on the Arthrath nickel-copper-platinum group metals project in Scotland, uranium and copper-gold in Mauritania, and nickel and copper-gold in Sweden. Alba will actively assess, as a priority, the uranium potential of the three uranium permits awarded in Mauritania, and are committed to continuing nickel exploration in Sweden as part of a collaborative exploration effort part funded by the Altius Minerals Corporation of Canada. Precious- and base- metal properties in Ireland and Scotland will continue to form part of the company portfolio and will be carried forward on a timely basis, with a view to seeking joint ventures on each where warranted. Policies on Environment, Community & Social Responsibility and Safety It is the objective of Alba Mineral Resources not only to increase value for our shareholders, but to do so in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. We expect employees and contractors alike, to respect the cultures and traditions of the communities we work with, and in. Alba is a member of Environmental Excellence in Exploration (E3) a project coordinated by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). As a minimum standard we will abide by the applicable environmental laws within the administrative areas that we work and ensure that all our employees have the right to a safe and healthy working environment. Geology and Mineral Potential of the Mauritania Permits The three uranium permits held, and the three uranium permits pending, by MVL are considered by the Company to be highly prospective for hosting unconformity-type uranium mineralization, analogous to that seen in the Athabasca region of Canada. The permits awarded cover significant areas of an unconformable contact between early Proterozoic reworked granitic terrane and overlying sediments of late Proterozoic to Carboniferous age. Airborne geophysics flown on behalf of the Mauritanian Government indicates radiometric anomalies within organic-rich units near the base of these sedimentary sequences, coincident with large, deep-penetrating crustal shear structures. Uranium mineralization is known to the north and northwest of the permit area, and is hosted in granites and rhyolites cut by these shear structures. Airborne radiometrics has been shown to be an effective technique in uranium exploration in Niger where radiometric anomalies are associated with all known uranium deposits in the area surrounding the Arlit and Akouta uranium mines in the east of the country. Niger, some 2000 km east of MVL's current exploration activity, is the world's third largest producer of uranium after Canada and Australia. Dr Sandy M. Archibald BSc. MSc. PhD, Technical Director of Alba has reviewed the information contained herein. Dr. Archibald has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralisation under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking as a qualified person as defined by the Guidance Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies under the AIM Rules for Companies. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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