Namibian Project

RNS Number:5340P
ZincOx Resources PLC
7 January 2002



                             ZincOx Resources plc

                                                              7th January 2002


        ZINCOX ADDS SIGNIFICANT RESOURCE TO ITS INTERNATIONAL PORTFOLIO

               Right to earn 50.1% interest in Namibian project

          Project contains zinc, lead, germanium, gallium and indium


ZincOx Resources plc has today entered into a Joint Evaluation and
Exploitation Agreement whereby a 50.1% interest may be earned in slag dumps
and certain plant at the old Tsumeb Mine, in Namibia.  The dumps amount to 2.9
million tonnes of slag and contain zinc (9.03%), lead (2.05%), germanium
(0.0262%), gallium (approx. 0.02%) and indium (approx. 0.017%).  At today's
prices these metals have a combined gross value of over US$1 billion.



Andrew Woollett, ZincOx's managing director, said "The Tsumeb slag is the
first of a number of advanced projects, beyond the Middle East, that we intend
adding to our portfolio of assets thereby further broadening our geographical
base.  It fits perfectly with our strategy of adding value by the application
of our zinc technology which is particularly relevant at Tsumeb since this
technology is compatible with the methods required to recover the other high
value metals."



Development will be carried out jointly by ZincOx and Ongopolo Mining &
Processing Ltd (OMPL) who are the current owners of the slag dumps at Tsumeb.
OMPL is a Namibian company which operates three base metal mines and the
Tsumeb copper smelter.  Under the terms of the agreement, over the next 18
months, ZincOx can earn a 50.1% interest in a development company by providing
metallurgical expertise, completing a feasibility study and making a payment
of N$19 million (approx. US$1 million) to OMPL.  OMPL will obtain an interest
of 49.9% in the development company by contributing the slag dumps,
infrastructure and certain plant, including an Ausmelt type furnace
constructed in 1996 at a cost of US$12 million. ZincOx is commencing a
preliminary economic appraisal which is expected to be completed in the first
half of this year. This appraisal will include an estimate of the costs of
completing the full feasibility study.



ZincOx will be the manager of the project prior to development and thereafter
OMPL, having considerable local production experience, will be the operator.



Preliminary metallurgical testwork on samples of the Tsumeb slag has
demonstrated that zinc and the other metals can be concentrated into an oxide
dust by reduction and fuming. Zinc could be recovered from this oxide dust at
ZincOx's proposed Yanbu plant, in Saudi Arabia, where the other metals could
also be separated.  Alternatively, the oxide dust can be sold on the
international market.  For several years Korea Zinc, one of the world's
largest producers of zinc, has used an Ausmelt furnace for the treatment of
slag and the production of a zinc rich oxide dust.  Korea Zinc has agreed to
work with ZincOx to evaluate the production of an oxide dust using the
existing Ausmelt furnace at Tsumeb.



The slag forms a discrete dump over an area of about 100,000m2.  The slag is a
fine grained granular material that was produced as a result of lead smelting
operations carried out between 1963 and 1996.  Although the Tsumeb Mine closed
in 1999, the smelting of copper concentrates continues and there will be
significant synergies between this operation and the proposed slag fuming.



Germanium, gallium and indium are used in several high technology industries.
The consumption of these elements has grown substantially in recent years and
their medium term growth prospects remain very strong.  The slag at Tsumeb
represents one of the largest undeveloped resources of germanium and a very
significant potential supplier of gallium.



ZincOx's management has extensive experience in Namibia where, as the
executive management team of Reunion Mining PLC, they successfully undertook
the Skorpion feasibility study, a project currently under development by Anglo
American plc.  Namibia's mining sector has received the strong support of the
Government, which has consistently encouraged investment by international
mining companies.





For more information please contact

Andrew Woollett                          Leesa Peters
ZincOx Resources Plc                     Capital PR
Tel:+ 44 (0) 1276 455 700/07801 479 753  Tel:+ 44 (0) 20 7618 7889/0781 215 9885
[e-mail]                     [e-mail]

Charles Dampney                          
Charles Stanley & Co
Tel:  + 44 (0) 20 7953 2107
[e-mail]

                                www.zincox.com