Exploration Update and Assay Results

AIM: GMA

17 December 2010

GMA Resources plc

("GMA" or the "Company")

Exploration Update and Assay Results

Further to the announcement on 9 November 2010, GMA announces an update on its exploration activities at the Amesmessa Gold Mine within the Tirek - Amesmessa Concession in South West Algeria and presents the assay results of certain drill hole samples taken to date.

HIGHLIGHTS

·; RC drilling program has now completed 217 holes and 11,884m of drilling with partial results received for the first 97 of these holes

·; New wide low grade gold mineralised area discovered from Phase II Aster and gold-in-soil anomalies, including:

o Aster anomaly TA52, 53m from surface averaging 0.49g/t Au in drill hole ARC 91; and

o Aster anomaly TA54, 32m from 2m averaging 0.42g/t Au in drill hole ARC 69

·; New mineralisation model being formulated to guide future exploration based on the Tropicana Gold Project in Western Australia

·; Some significant intersections from Phase I quartz vein drilling, including:

o Vein 7, Hole ARC 37, 11m from 37m downhole assaying 13.25g/tAu; and

o Vein 7, Hole ARC 61, 6m from 50m downhole assaying 1.41g/tAu followed by 7m from 61m downhole that assayed 18.48g/t Au

SUMMARY

Since February this year, a technically based exploration program with a target of finding large tonnage, low grade gold deposits has been underway at Amesmessa. Initial work involved the interpretation of Aster satellite imagery in order to locate areas of possible alteration that might be indicative of significant gold mineralisation on the basis that without significant alteration, there is unlikely to be any significant gold mineralisation. A total of 34 Aster anomalies were initially selected for follow up with soil geochemistry. As previously announced, the initial geochemistry results led to the discovery of several significant coincident Aster and gold-in-soil anomalies which are now being reconnaissance drilled by the Company's reverse circulation (RC) drill rig.

To date, 217 holes representing 11,884m have been completed and incomplete analytical results have been received for the first 97 of these holes. Certain drill holes have been typically assayed at 1m intervals and other drill holes targeting known mineralised zones have been typically assayed at the expected mineralized zone horizon at 1m intervals through the expected mineralised zone, thereby leaving significant portions of some drill holes unassayed. This affects to some degree the interpretation of these results in that further mineralisation may also be identified in the samples yet to be assayed. The data in Table 1 below sets out which areas have been left unassayed.

The Amesmessa gold project is located along 80km of a 1000km long continental scale fracture zone called the Eastern In Ouzzal Shear Zone (EIOSZ) and locally at Amesmessa, called the Amesmessa Shear Zone (ASZ). The ASZ forms a deformed corridor approximately 3km wide, which is essentially made up of metamorphosed Proterozoic rocks to the east and Archaean rocks in the In Ouzzal Block to the west. A conceptual geological model is being formulated by the Company with its Consulting Geologist, Geoff Blackburn, to guide the exploration effort for a new style of gold deposit at Amesmessa. The conceptual geological model is initially based on the West Australian Tropicana style of deposit owned by AngloGold Ashanti Ltd and Independence Group NL. The comparison is considered technically appropriate at this time by the Board and Mr Blackburn due to the similarities between some of the newly discovered mineralisation at Amesmessa and Tropicana's regional structural situations.

Phase 1 drill holes ARC01 to ARC77 were targeted at previously known quartz vein mineralisation that had been exploited in the past, although several of these holes may partially have been located on or adjacent to one of these coincident Aster and gold-in-soil anomalies.

Phase 2 drill testing of the coincident Aster gold-in-soil anomalies commenced with the target on TA52 with drill holes ARC77 to ARC127. Assays are now available for holes from ARC77 through to ARC97. All drill collar information, weighted averages for all drill holes and drill hole locations in TA 52 & 54 are included within Appendicies 1, 2 & 3, which can be found on the GMA web site (www.gmaresources.co.uk). All gold assays have been completed by Genalysis Laboratory in Perth, Western Australia to JORC QA/QC requirements.

PHASE ONE DRILL PROGRAM - Known Quartz Vein Mineralisation.

A total of 11 previously identified and previously exploited quartz veins were drill tested. These were;

TABLE 1 - DRILL TESTING OF PREVIOUSLY EXPLOITED GOLD MINERALISATION

Note: * holes ARC67-77 "incidentally" targeted the eastern margin of Aster anomaly TA54 but did not provide an adequate test of the gold in soil geochemical anomaly - results of these holes are included with the discussion on TA54

The significant intercepts of mineralisation are summarized in Table 2 for the Phase 1 Drill Program;

TABLE 2

PHASE ONE DRILL RESULTS"QUARTZ VEIN" DRILLING

Note:* all intersections >5.0g/t meters with mean grade >1.0g/t. Lower cut off 0.5g/t no upper cut off. Intervals may contain one or more intervals of included waste up to 2m in thickness at the assayed grade

At Vein 7, nine of the thirteen drill holes made significant intersections despite only 55% of samples having been assayed from the Vein 7 drilling. It is difficult to form a firm assessment of the significance of the results, however, based on the mining history of the area, the Board's view is that it would seem likely that there is a reasonable prospect that this southern extension may host a reasonable quantity of mineralisation that could be converted to a mineral resource for later use in planning an extension to the Vein 7 pit.

The remaining drill hole results were generally between 1 to 2m at 0.5 to 2.5g/t with 10 drill holes having no gold intercepts (see Appendix 2 on the GMA web site).

PHASE TWO DRILL PROGRAM - Evaluation of Coincident Aster and gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies.

As of 7 December 2010, drill testing has been undertaken on 5 of the 76 identified Aster targets and a total of 127 RC drill holes and 6,858m of drilling have been completed (See Table 3 below). Assay results are available for only some of the holes on Aster anomalies TA52 and TA54 as shown in Tables 4 below.

TABLE 3

Drilling completed on coincident Aster and Gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies to 7 December 2010

These results are viewed by the Directors as particularly encouraging in that they believe the results indicate the presence of previously unknown wide (approximately 50m or more) widths of low grade gold mineralisation accompanied by fine disseminated pyritic alteration (and their oxidised equivalents) in gneissic rocks with gold values generally in the range of 0.1 to 1.0g/t and sometimes higher. Included within this wide zone of anomalous gold bearing rock are some higher grade mineralised zones of potential economic interest, such as that intersected by drill hole ARC76, which contained 10m from 12m down hole averaging 3.58g/t Au. This gives the Board further confidence in the concept that Amesmessa may host a Tropicana styled deposit and the exploration strategy is being further refined with this geological model in mind.

TABLE 4

PHASE TWO DRILL RESULTS

DRILL TESTING OF COINCIDENT ASTER and GOLD-IN-SOIL ANOMALIES

Note:* all intersections of mineralised rock >20m in downhole thickness. Lower cut off 0.1g/t. 5g/t upper cut off. Intervals may contain one or more intervals of included waste up to 4m in thickness at the assayed grade. "eoh"=end of hole (mineralised interval is open at the end of the hole). ** See Appendix 3 for locations of the drill holes in TA 52 & 54 drilled to date.

Table 4 is designed to illustrate the location of the mineralised and altered halo, which typically surrounds large size bulk tonnage gold deposits. There is no representation that these intervals are potentially economically viable but they are presented to illustrate a geological point relating to the exploration for potential mineralisation.

Aster Anomaly TA52 Results

The results of the soil geochemistry from this 1km long Aster anomaly confirmed that a moderate amplitude (+100ppb Au) gold in soil anomaly extends the entire length of the Aster anomaly and is open to the north and to the south. The previously worked Zone II pit is located on the eastern margins of the Aster anomaly, but did not give an obvious gold-in-soil response at the scale of this survey, indicating that its total gold content is relatively low, despite the very interesting intersection recorded by hole ARC14 that returned a 5m interval from 32m down hole which averaged 90.62g/t Au (five individual 1m intervals ranged in value between 45.79g/t to 143.74g/t Au). None of the remaining 9 drill holes targeting this same mineralisation below the current Zone II pit made a potentially viable intersection.

The TA 52 gold in soil anomaly has been drill tested by 8 sections spaced along 900m of strike. Available results from the two and a half drill sections to hand suggest that the causative body of the anomaly is possibly a wide zone (c.50m or greater) of pyritised and altered gneisses containing gold values generally between 0.1 to 1.0g/t (see results in Table 4) with some sections of higher potentially economic grade (drill hole ARC91 contained 12m from 41m down hole which averaged 1.06g/t Au). However, only one of the sections for which results are available is within the bounds of the Aster anomaly and that on its southern limits. The other two sections are located south of the Aster anomaly but outside its bounds, implying that those sections have drilled less altered rock than that which occurs immediately to the north.

Aster Anomaly TA54 Results

This 600m long Aster anomaly was soil sampled on a nominal 50x200m grid. The analytical results from this work confirmed that a moderate amplitude (+100ppb Au) gold in soil anomaly extends the entire length of the Aster anomaly and is open to the north and to the south. The previously worked Zone I pit is located in the central southern part of the TA54 Aster anomaly.

All of the drill holes for which assays are currently available and which were located at this anomaly were aimed at finding mineralisation either adjacent to or below the existing small Zone 1 pit. A new program in December will specifically target the coincident Aster and gold in soil geochemical anomaly. The existing holes provide some incidental tests, however, they cannot be regarded as a comprehensive test of the gold in soil anomaly associated with Aster target TA54.

The results from the current drilling indicate that the causative body of this anomaly is likely to be a wide zone (c.50m+) of pyritised and altered gneisses containing gold values generally between 0.1 to 1.0g/t (see results included in Table 4) with some sections of higher potentially economic grade (drill hole ARC76 contained 10m from 12m down hole which averaged 3.58g/t Au).

GMA'sCEO, Ken Crichton, said:

 "Our view remains that the Tirek-Amesmessa Concession is a wonderful exploration opportunity for a large tonnage gold deposit despite the existing struggling mining operation.

"The recent drilling results in TA 52 & 54 have further strengthened our belief that there is a wide mineralized zone running parallel and west of the known quartz veins along a good portion of the 80km strike length of the concession. Exploration efforts now will focus on identifying potential structural and geological occurrences along this zone where gold may have concentrated to form large tonnage economic gold mineralisation."

 Qualified Person

Information in this announcement relating to the Company's exploration activities is based on data reviewed by Mr Geoff Blackburn AOM BSc FAusIMM(CP), who has been engaged as Consulting Geologist to the Company. Mr Blackburn is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and has 40 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Blackburn consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

GMA owns a controlling 52% stake in ENOR spa ("ENOR"), the Algerian based operating company for the Tirek-Amesmessa project, with the remainder owned by Sonatrach, the Algerian state-owned oil and gas company.

ENOR holds the exploitation authorisation to the Tirek-Amesmessa property, an area of some 1,417 km2, located approximately 450km south west of the city, Tamanrasset, in southern Algeria. Amesmessa is an open pit heap leach gold mine located in the extreme south of the permit area. The Tirek gold mine is located centrally in the northern third of the exploration permit area, some 60 km north of Amesmessa. Research to date suggests that the Zita Zone, which lies between Tirek and Amesmessa, offers considerable potential for the development of additional prospects amenable to open-pit mining. GMA plans to quickly expand upon resources outside of the major 80km Tirek-Amesmessa fault north/south of the concession.

GMA's shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: GMA).

For further information on the Company, please visit: www.gmaresources.co.uk