PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT (4565S)

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RNS Number : 4565S

Petmin Limited

21 November 2011

PETMIN LIMITED

Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa

Registration Number 1972/001062/06

Share Code JSE: PET & ISIN: ZAE000076014

Share Code AIM: PTMN

("Petmin" or "the Company")

PRESS RELEASE - 21 NOVEMBER 2011

Petmin's joint venture partner in the North Atlantic Iron Corporation (NAIC), which is developing an iron sands and pig iron project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, issued the following statement to Canadian media on Friday 18 November.

Labrador Iron Sands Project Announces Partners for $400 Million Project

For Release November 18, 2011

Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Grand River Ironsands Incorporated (GRI) has formally announced its joint venture with South African and Canadian partners in the North Atlantic Iron Corporation (NAIC), a $400 million iron sands mining operation and pig iron plant in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

After five years of developing the iron sands project in north eastern Canada, GRI has joined forces with diversified mining company Petmin Limited and the iron making expertise of Cardero Resource Corporation Ltd.

Petmin will invest $25 million in the project over three defined phases. The company has mining experience, capital-raising abilities and an internationally-recognised management team. Cardero has engineering skills and expertise in environmentally-friendly pig-iron production. This technology approach will be the basis for a new approach to iron making.

"After five years of diligently developing this high potential iron sands and pig iron project, we now have two world class partners with mining, capital raising and iron-making skills and experience, said GRI President Francis MacKenzie. We now have the investment to advance to a Bankable Feasibility Study along with the iron making expertise that will make this project a leader and set the bar a notch higher."

"GRI, Petmin and Cardero, along with our Innu First Nation partners and a number of community stakeholders in Happy Valley-Goose Bay (HVGB), are ready to further advance this project to production. The iron sands resource will be a low-cost feedstock for making a high purity pig iron product to supply foundries and steel mills. NAIC is meeting the request from Happy Valley-Goose Bay community leaders to add-value to the iron sands, bringing additional economic benefits to the community and to be an environmental leader which meets or exceeds global mining and iron making standards."

Bradley Doig, the Petmin executive responsible for international projects, said the company had identified the iron sands around Happy Valley-Goose Bay as a resource with significant economic and value creation potential for investors, partners and the local community.

"What stood out was the quality and strength of the commitment to the NAIC project by Innu First Nation and community leaders. Our collective goal is to have the community embrace the mining along with the value-adding pig iron facility. This opportunity has the basis to reward all stakeholders and fits well with our business model and strategy."

While mining the iron sands for export is possible, the focus will be on value-adding in the production of pig iron. Environmentally-efficient hydroelectricity rather than fossil fuels will be used to power the iron making process.

NAIC anticipates 120-140 new jobs and careers in the pig iron production process, with 40-60 jobs in mining operations. Significant spin-off jobs will be created along with economic benefits for the local community from investment in the pig iron plant and related infrastructure.

Glenn Hoffman, CEO of Cardero Iron Ore, said: "After more than 35 years in the iron business, rarely do we see a mining project with all the key elements in one location, resource, full service community, low cost hydro and a port."

"This is an exceptional opportunity and by using 􏰃green􏰄hydroelectricity this iron making process will potentially be a world class leader environmentally in making iron."

The NAIC joint venture is planning to extract a 7,000 tonne sample of sands for processing locally into an iron ore concentrate which will be shipped to a furnace for a demonstration level test. "This will be a new application using a proven technology, so we are confident of delivering success," Hoffman said. "With the tests already done on the local ironsands at the laboratory level, we are confident of positive outcomes with the next phase of testing at the demonstration level."

Phase one of the iron making process will be to produce 500,000 tonnes of high purity pig iron. The product is expected to have a market in the United States and Europe where most ports are less than seven days by sea from Happy-Valley-Goose Bay.

The heavy minerals in the sands will be extracted and the vast majority (approximately 90%) of the sands will be returned to the land. The heavy minerals will be separated through an established spiral separation process that uses water and gravity along with magnets. Blasting, crushing and the use of chemicals are all avoided. NAIC will build on its presence in the community with a commitment to an office and additional personnel in 2012. The next key steps with the project include seeking and gathering input from a number of community teams to understand and manage the opportunities for environmental and archaeological stewardship, reclamation approaches and economic development. The NAIC iron sands and pig iron project will complete a Resource Estimate in Q1 of 2012 with the related drilling already completed in 2011. This will be followed by a demonstration level melt test in Q2 of 2012. Efforts towards the engineering of the iron-making operation will also begin in 2012. The goal will be to work closely with the community and key stakeholders, along with regulatory and permitting authorities. An Impacts and Benefits Agreement must be negotiated with the Land Claim holders, the Innu First Nations.

Further, an agreement will be negotiated with the Mayor and Town Council on behalf of the community to deliver local benefits. Should these efforts meet with acceptance, the target date for production is targeted for 2015 - assuming approvals in 2013.

About

Grand River Ironsands Incorporated a privately owned company based in Nova Scotia that has invested approximately $7 million to date in advancing the ironsands. The key asset of GRI has been the ironsands with quantities of magnetite, titan magnetite, zircon and garnet in the mineral resource. The ironsands of Labrador were first discovered in 1896 and are located near the Town of Happy Valley- Goose Bay, NL. The 1,800 staked mineral claims cover an area of 450 square kilometres and include sands in the Churchill River east of Muskrat Falls and lands to the south and west. www.grandriverironsands.com

Petmin Limited (JSE: PET and AIM: PTMN) a mining company listed on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges. The company has an operational metallurgical anthracite mine in KwaZulu, South Africa, and exploration projects in Canada, Turkey and Liberia. Petmin has a proven and experienced management team with an exceptional track record in mining operations, value creation and development of projects at home and internationally. www.petmin.com

Cardero Iron Company is a subsidiary of Cardero Resource Corp. (TSX: CDU, NYSE-A: CDY, Frankfurt: CR5) strives to maximize shareholder value by utilizing managements strong regional network and geological and operational expertise to implement the most economically sound and environmentally friendly approach to building its business. Carderos focus has increasingly been on iron ore and iron- making technologies. Cardero continues to hold iron ore resources at the Iron Sands Project in Peru and iron-titanium interests in Minnesota, USA. Cardero acquired Coalhunter Mining Corp. which holds a 75% interest in the Carbon Creek Metallurgical Coal deposit in northeastern British Columbia. www.cardero.com

Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL (pop 7,572) is a full service community that is referred to as the Hub of Labrador and is located 400 kilometres east of several major Canadian iron ore producing deposits, 320 kilometres south of Voiseys Bay nickel project and 250 km east of the 5,424 MW Upper Churchill hydroelectricity plant; the community is also 30 km away from the proposed Lower Churchill Hydroelectricity Dam (824 MW). The community can be accessed by air with direct flights from the provincial capital of St. Johns and Halifax in less than 90 minutes. The airport was developed as an airbase in 1941 and later became an NATO airbase. www.happyvalley-goosebay.com

For Additional Information Contact: Liz MacKenzie, Grand River Ironsands [phone] [e-mail] Bradley Doig, Petmin [phone] Nancy Curry, Corporate Communications, Cardero [phone] [e-mail]

Enquiries:

Petmin

Bradley Doig (COO) [phone]

www.petmin.co.za

Nominated Advisor (AIM)

Numis Securities Limited [phone]

Stuart Skinner

Sponsor and Corporate Advisor (JSE)

River Group

Andrew Lianos [phone]

Johannesburg

21 November 2011

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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