Deep Digital Cornwall: Grant Funding Award

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15 February 2021

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals", "SML" or the "Company")

Redmoor Update

Deep Digital Cornwall: Grant Funding Award

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a profitable producing mineral company, is pleased to announce that its 100% owned subsidiary Cornwall Resources Limited ("CRL") has been notified that the 'Deep Digital Cornwall' project led by the University of Exeter's Camborne School of Mines ("CSM"), in which CRL and Cornish Lithium are delivery partners, has been awarded funding by the European Regional Development Fund ("ERDF"), through HM Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government ("HMCLG").

Highlights:

·   Redmoor exploration licence area will be used as a field laboratory for collection of geochemical and geophysical data, which will also provide CRL with information relevant to a number of new prospects within its Mineral Rights.

·   CRL to receive up to £446,063 of grant funding for its part in the project from the ERDF, in return for a contribution from CRL of 20% (from existing budget).

·   Strong alignment with CRL's objectives for Redmoor, one of which is the continued expansion of its understanding of the geology at this highly prospective site.

·    CRL to benefit from access to international-level research and collaboration concerning the use of digital exploration data, through CSM.

·    Positive support for Cornwall and its natural resources sector from HMCLG and ERDF.

In 2019, CRL, along with other industry delivery partners, joined the 'Deep Digital Cornwall' funding application, led by CSM, for funding from the European Structural & Investment Fund of the European Regional Development Fund. The application was made in response to a call aiming to promote research and innovation in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Funding call: OC05R18P 0782).

The £4.1m Deep Digital Cornwall project has now been approved by HMCLG and includes £3.3m of grant funding. Of this amount, CRL will, as a delivery partner, receive funding of up to £446,063, to facilitate the use of its Redmoor exploration licence area as a field laboratory for the project. To be eligible for the funding, CRL will need to also expend a further 20% (£111,516) which has already been provided for in SML/CRL's 2021 budget. 

Deep Digital Cornwall aims to create a world-leading cluster of research-active, highly innovative businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, applying digital solutions to a wide range of below ground and related business opportunities including mining and geothermal.

CRL will provide Redmoor as a field site for the acquisition of new geochemistry and geophysical data and the development of geological expertise (in conjunction with CSM) for research on such data at deposit-to-district scales around an active exploration project. The raw data will be provided to the Deep Digital Cornwall data centre as an example dataset, while collaborative research at Redmoor will improve understanding of both local prospectivity and the wider Cornwall sub-surface. Ongoing research on these data, integration with regional datasets, and engagement with others, will lead to a case study in the benefits of applying modern exploration techniques and local expertise synergies to an ongoing Cornish exploration project via emerging digital technologies.

Commenting, Peter Wale, Executive Director of Strategic Minerals and Director of CRL, said:

"The CRL team are proud and excited to play a significant role as a delivery partner generating new data for the project, which is anticipated to be one of the catalysts stimulating the resurgence of Cornish mining.

"The award of this grant funding, organised through collaboration with Camborne School of Mines, will ensure that Cornwall and its rich mineral potential are positioned at the cutting edge of developments in digital data capture, management and interpretation.

"The project is expected to meet both the needs of the data hub and to provide CRL with further information regarding the potential for broader and additional targets in close proximity to the already internationally significant Redmoor deposit." 

Notes to Editors

Strategic Minerals plc:

Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted, profitable operating minerals company. It has operations in the United States of America and Australia along with a development project in the UK.  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 the Board considers likely to benefit from future supply and demand factors.

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 progressing the Company's development projects.

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

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 into production in April 2019.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF):

The Deep Digital Cornwall project is receiving up to £3,313,761 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

The Deep Digital Cornwall Project:

Deep Digital Cornwall will give Cornwall and Isles of Scilly SME businesses access to research skills, knowledge, data and facilities to carry out digital research and development of innovative products related to the underground environment (mining, geothermal, civil engineering, environmental, surveying, water resources, planning and permitting, heritage, tourism) and its connections to the surface. A new 'Deep Digital Cornwall' Hub will be established on the Penryn University Campus, including a visualisation suite and specialist computing. A large team of academics and specialists from the University of Exeter (Camborne School of Mines and Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence), South West Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications, Cornish Lithium, Cornwall Resources, will help SMEs tackle digital research challenges and expand. The aim is to create a world-leading cluster of research-active, highly innovative businesses.