Rare Earth Minerals PLC Award of Greenland Exploration Licences (4443I)

TIDMREM

RNS Number : 4443I

Rare Earth Minerals PLC

25 July 2012

Rare Earth Minerals plc

("REM" or the "Company")

Award of significant Exploration Licences in Southern Greenland

Rare Earth Minerals (AIM: REM) announces today that after significant effort from the board, the Company has finally been awarded three key Exploration Licences in Southern Greenland by the Greenland Government, two of which form common boundaries to main licences owned by Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited "GGG" (ASX: GGG).

The three Exploration Licences (2012/13-15) cover a land mass area of 832 km(2) near the regional centres of Narsaq, Narsarsuaq and Qaqortoq. Two licences, 2012/14 and 2012/15, abut the northern and eastern boundaries of GGG's licences that encompass the world class Kvanefjeld, Sorenson, Zone 3 and Steenstrupfjeld Rare Earth Element ("REE") deposits.

GGG's latest stated estimates for inferred and indicated mineral resources at the Kvanefjeld Deposit as defined by JORC (March 2011) include a metal inventory of 6.55 million tonnes ("Mt") of Total Rare Earth Oxides ("TREOs") (including 0.24 Mt of Heavy Rare Earth Oxides "HREOs" and 0.53 Mt of Yttrium Oxide), 350 Mlbs of U(3) O(8) and 3 Blb's of Zinc.

Including the inferred mineral resources for their Sorensen and Zone 3 deposits, both announced in 2012, GGG's global metal inventory in inferred and indicated categories was 575 Mlbs U(3) O(8) , 10.3 Mt TREO and 2.24 Mt Zinc (at a 150 ppm U(3) O(8) cut-off). The rare earth resource inventory included 0.37 Mt HREO and 0.84 Mt Yttrium Oxide.

Refer to GGG's website: www.ggg.gl for full details of their projects, location and resources.

A map showing REM's Exploration Licences is on the Company's website: www.rareearthmineralsplc.com

David Lenigas, REM's Chairman stated:

"The Company has been working for over a year to secure these key Exploration Licences in Greenland, which surround one of world's largest resources of REEs outside of China. In addition to REEs, South Greenland also has proven potential for gold, niobium, tantalum and zirconium mineralisation."

"Now that these Licences have been granted, we have commissioned SRK Exploration Services Ltd. ("SRK ES") to commence an exploration programme to assess the mineral potential of the licence areas. SRK ES is part of the global SRK Group and has extensive experience of mineral exploration in South Greenland. The SRK Group is one of GGG's main geological consultants and has completed Mineral Resource Estimates for GGG's assets as well as other exploration projects in the area."

"REM is actively pursuing further exploration licences in South Greenland, and we will keep the market informed of progress as events materialize."

For further information please contact:

Rare Earth Minerals Plc

David Lenigas, Director

[phone]

W.H. Ireland

James Joyce

Nick Field

[phone]

Glossary

 
 TERM                                        DEFINITION 
 Ce, Ce(2) O(3)                              Cerium, Cerium oxide 
 Cut-off grade                               When determining economically viable Mineral 
                                              Reserves, the lowest grade of mineralised 
                                              material that qualifies as ore. 
 Deposit                                     A naturally occurring accumulation of minerals 
                                              that may be considered economically valuable. 
 Dy, Dy(2) O(3)                              Dysprosium, Dysprosium oxide 
 Er, Er(2) O(3)                              Erbium, Erbium oxide 
 Eu, Eu(2) O(3)                              Europium, Europium oxide 
 Grade                                       The quantity of ore or metal in a specified 
                                              quantity of rock 
 Granite                                     A medium to coarse grained plutonic igneous 
                                              rock usually light coloured and consisting 
                                              largely of quartz and feldspar; 
 High grade                                  Pertaining to ore which is rich in the metal 
                                              being mined. 
 Ho, Ho(2) O(3)                              Holmium, Holmium oxide 
 HREE or Heavy Rare                          Comprising Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb 
  Earth Elements                              and Lu. Y is often included in the HREE group 
                                              since it tends to occur in the same ore deposits 
                                              as other HREE and exhibits similar chemical 
                                              properties, despite its lower atomic mass. 
                                              Of higher value than LREEs. 
 HREO or Heavy Rare                          Comprising the oxide forms of HREE. Conventionally 
  Earth Oxides                                the HREE content of a deposit is expressed 
                                              in the oxide form. 
 JORC                                        Joint Ore Reserves Committee (of the AusIMM 
                                              and other institutions) 
 JORC code                                   Australasian code for reporting of Mineral 
                                              Resources and Ore Reserves. 
 La, La(2) O(3)                              Lanthanum, Lanthanum oxide 
 Low Grade                                   Pertaining to ore which is comparatively low 
                                              in content for the metal which is being mined. 
 LREE or Light Rare                          Comprising La, Ce, Pr, Nd Pm and Sm 
  Earth Elements 
 LREO orLight Rare                           Comprising the oxide forms of LREE. Conventionally 
  Earth Oxides                                the LREE content of a deposit is expressed 
                                              in the oxide form. 
 Lu, Lu(2) O(3)                              Lutetium, Lutetium oxide 
 Mineral                                     A natural, inorganic, homogeneous material 
                                              that can be expressed by a chemical formula. 
 Mineral Resource                            A concentration or occurrence of material 
                                              of intrinsic economic interest in or on the 
                                              Earth's crust in such a form and quantity 
                                              that there are reasonable prospects for eventual 
                                              economic extraction. The location, quantity, 
                                              grade, geological characteristics and continuity 
                                              of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated 
                                              or interpreted from specific geological evidence 
                                              and knowledge. Mineral Resources are sub-divided, 
                                              in order of increasing geological confidence, 
                                              into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories. 
 Mineralisation                              The process by which minerals are introduced 
                                              into a rock. More generally, a term applied 
                                              to accumulations of economic or related minerals 
                                              in quantities ranging from weakly anomalous 
                                              to economically recoverable. 
 Mineralised                                 Containing ore minerals. 
 Nd, Nd(2) O(3)                              Neodymium, Neodymium oxide 
 Niobium                                     Chemical element with symbol Nb. Used in alloys 
                                              and various superconducting materials 
 Ore                                         Mineral bearing rock that contains one or 
                                              more minerals, at least one of which can be 
                                              mined and treated profitably under current 
                                              or immediately foreseeable economic conditions. 
 Ore Reserve                                 The economically mineable part of a Measured 
                                              or Indicated Mineral Resource. It includes 
                                              diluting materials and allowances for losses 
                                              which may occur when the material is mined. 
                                              Appropriate assessments, which may include 
                                              feasibility studies, have been carried out, 
                                              and include consideration of and modification 
                                              by realistically assumed, mining, metallurgical, 
                                              economic, marketing, legal, environmental, 
                                              social and governmental factors. These assessments 
                                              demonstrate at the time of reporting that 
                                              extraction could reasonably be justified. 
                                              Ore Reserves are sub-divided in order of increasing 
                                              confidence into Probable Ore Reserves and 
                                              Proved Ore Reserves. 
 Orebody                                     A continuous, well-defined mass of material 
                                              of sufficient ore content to make extraction 
                                              economically feasible. 
 Pm                                          Promethium 
 Pr, Pr(2) O(3)                              Praseodymium, Praseodymium oxide 
 Prospect                                    A mineral property, the value of which has 
                                              not been proved by exploration. To search 
                                              for minerals or oil by looking for surface 
                                              indications, by drilling boreholes, or both. 
 Rare Earth Elements (REEs) or Rare Earths   A series of metallic lanthanide elements with 
                                              similar chemical properties comprising HREEs 
                                              and LREEs (but excluding Pm for the purposes 
                                              of the geological REE occurrences having regard 
                                              to its unstable nature). Widely used in technological 
                                              devices. 
 Rare Earth Oxides (REOs)                    The oxide forms of REEs. Oxide grades are 
                                              conventionally used when stating grades for 
                                              REE deposits. 
 Reserves                                    That part of a mineral resource which has 
                                              been demonstrated to be economically exploitable. 
 Resource                                    The total quantity of a mineral which is calculated 
                                              to lie within given boundaries and which could 
                                              be economically workable. 
 Sm, Sm(2) O(3)                              Samarium, Samarium oxide 
 SRK ES                                      SRK Exploration Services 
 Tantalum                                    Chemical element with symbol Ta. Main use 
                                              is for capacitors in electronic equipment, 
                                              as also as a component in alloys. 
 Tb, Tb(2) O(3)                              Terbium, Terbium oxide 
 Tm, Tm(2) O(3)                              Thulium, Thulium oxide 
 TREO                                        Total Rare Earth Oxides - the sum of the concentrations 
                                              of rare earth oxides 
 U, U(3) O(8)                                Uranium, Uranium oxide 
 Uranium                                     Hard, lustrous, silver-white, malleable and 
                                              ductile, radioactive, metallic element of 
                                              the actinide series. 
 Y, Y(2) O(3)                                Yttrium, Yttrium oxide 
 Yb, Yb(2) O(3)                              Ytterbium, Ytterbium oxide 
 Zirconium                                   A chemical element with symbol Zr. Commonly 
                                              used as an alloying agent due to its excellent 
                                              resistance to corrosion, as a refractory mineral 
                                              in furnaces, and for the production of thin 
                                              ceramic coatings. 
 

Mining of Radioactive Minerals in Greenland

Greenland currently imposes a ban on the exploration and exploitation of radioactive elements where these occur at "above background levels" (as they do at the GGG projects and other REE-Nb-Ta projects in the area). This prohibition includes mining of these elements as by-products. As it stands this law would prohibit mining in areas where concentrations of radioactive elements exceed background levels. Background levels for the alkaline complexes in South Greenland that host such mineral occurrences have been stated by the Minister for Industry & Resources to be up to 60 ppm.

The Greenland government is promoting debate through a process of public consultation on the issue of mining uranium and other radioactive elements. Support for a change in policy has come from the South Greenland Municipal Council, major labour unions and some political parties. In October 2010, the Greenland government amended its Standard Conditions for Mineral Licences to allow companies that have delineated a resource that falls into this category to apply for approval to conduct feasibility, environmental and community studies into projects that contain radioactive elements at above background levels. As a further indication of a possible change in policy the Greenland Government agreed in December 2011 to amend the conditions of an exploration licence held by GGG to include radioactive elements. This change may give GGG the ability to apply for an Exploitation Licence that includes minerals such as uranium. REM understands however that the extraction ban for now remains in place.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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