The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

3 March 2022

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or the "Company")

Cobre Access Rollover Confirmed

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a profitable, producing mineral company is pleased to confirm the rollover of access to the magnetite stockpile in New Mexico for the tenth consecutive year.

Cobre Update

The 10^th yearly rollover of access to the Cobre magnetite stockpile ensures continuity of profitable operations for the year ahead and augurs well for future rollovers. 

While the quarter ended 31 December 2021 and January 2022 saw a significant drop in demand, February 2022 has seen sales 12% higher compared to February 2021 and the first two months of 2022 combined are only marginally below that of comparable 2021 sales.

CV Investments LLC

On 22 February 2022, the Receiver for CV Investments LLC was successful in getting the United States District Court, for the District of New Jersey, to enter an Order Establishing Claims Procedure and Setting Claims with a Bar Date of 25 April 2022.  This will involve the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Southern Minerals Group ("SMG"), lodging a claim for US$21.9m as per its recent arbitration.  This development is encouraging and may indicate some sort of financial result for SMG before the end of the year, although there is no guarantee as to timing or amount.

Commenting, John Peters, Managing Director of Strategic Minerals, said:

"While not unexpected, the rollover of access at Cobre is always an important milestone in SML's calendar.  Given our close relationship with the mine owner, the rollover was expected and the Board and Management do not currently foresee any problems with future rollovers.

"It is pleasing to see that the CV Investments' receivership is moving forward and the Company anticipates, but is not relying upon, a cash settlement arising from the closure of this matter.

"Recent significant rises in the copper price, to over US$4.50/lb, have continued to heighten interest in our Leigh Creek Copper Mine project and we look forward to it joining Cobre this year as a second income stream for the Company, subject to securing the necessary funding."

Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted, profitable operating minerals company actively developing projects tailored to materials expected to benefit from strong demand in the future. It has an operation in the United States of America along with development projects in the UK and Australia. The Company is focused on utilising its operating cash flows, along with capital raisings, to develop high quality projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals likely to be highly demanded in the future.

In September 2011, Strategic Minerals acquired the distribution rights to the Cobre magnetite tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA, a cash-generating asset, which it brought into production in 2012 and which continues to provide a revenue stream for the Company. This operating revenue stream is utilised to cover company overheads and invest in development projects aimed at supplying the metals and minerals likely to be highly demanded in the future.

In May 2016, the Company entered into an agreement with New Age Exploration Limited and, in February 2017, acquired 50% of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project in Cornwall, UK. The bulk of the funds from the Company's investment were utilised to complete a drilling programme that year. The drilling programme resulted in a significant upgrade of the resource. This was followed in 2018 with a 12-hole 2018 drilling programme has now been completed and the resource update that resulted was announced in February 2019. In March 2019, the Company entered into arrangements to acquire the balance of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten project which was settled on 24 July 2019 by way of a vendor loan which was fully repaid on 26 June 2020.

In March 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of the Leigh Creek Copper Mine situated in the copper rich belt of South Australia and brought the project temporarily into production in April 2019. In July 2021, the project was granted a conditional approval by the South Australian Government for a Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) in relation to mining of its Paltridge North deposit and processing at the Mountain of Light installation. In early January 2022, an updated PEPR, addressing the conditions associated with the July 2021 approval, was lodged.