Full Year Results

17 May 2012

Bellzone Mining plc

("Bellzone" or "the Company")

Results for the year ended 31 December 2011

Bellzone Mining plc (AIM:BZM), today announces its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2011.

Key points

·; Secured US$236m through a placement of 181 million ordinary shares

·; Forécariah JV construction and production stockpiling delivered on time and budget

·; Kalia Oxide and supergene resource of 286mt for 104.5mt of recoverable product

·; 6.16 billion tonne magnetite JORC resource that is open at depth for Kalia released in Q3 2011

·; Kalia now has 1.46 billion tonnes of contained iron JORC resources

·; Kalia socio-economic impact assessment and environmental impact assessment studies completed and approved

·; Kalia DFS substantially completed and will be presented to the board for final approval and publication in Q2 2012

·; Completed $1.1 million airborne geophysical survey for nickel / copper exploration at Sadeka

·; Lost time injury frequency rate maintained at zero

·; Cash on hand of $120m as at 16 May 2012 with Forécariah fully financed to production

The current status of the Forécariah JV project warrants a specific mention and the following points are provided:

·; Issue of Mining Permit by Government of Guinea pending - Commission for Department of Mines and Geology approval obtained - awaiting signature by Council of Ministers and Minister of Mines and Geology

·; The project is operational ready from the mine to the Panamax

·; Forécariah JV project has been delivered on time and budget

·; Approximately 30,000t of run of mine material is stockpiled

·; The barges, tugs and storage Panamax have been delivered to Guinea and are ready to start the trans-shipping operations.

·; Discussions are ongoing with potential off takers are in progress

·; Wide space drilling through the Yomboyeli West and Layah targets has been completed

·; Infill programme is in progress to support a JORC resource development

·; An internal resource update will be issued in Q3, 2012

Nik Zuks, Chief Executive Officer of Bellzone, commented: "The successes of the past year have not been without its challenges. 2011 was a very busy year for Bellzone at Kalia, Sadeka and with CIF on the Forécariah JV. The effort at Forécariah has been truly remarkable and clearly demonstrates our execution capability where the project was taken from greenfield to export readiness within 15 months."

"The work continues at Kalia and we look forward to making announcements relating to progress on the economic studies and resource development in the next few months. Our focus and effort at this time is on working with the Government of Guinea to ensure that we can start loading iron ore from Forécariah onto an export vessel as soon as possible. We are ready to commence pit to port operations within hours of receiving the permit. We have received no notification of any outstanding issues with the application for the Forécariah permit and although the processing of the permit has taken longer than anticipated we are confident that it will be issued to allow project objectives to be met."

Enquiries:

Bellzone Mining plc

Terry Larkan/Graham Fyfe +61 (0) 8 9420 8900

Canaccord Genuity Limited

Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker to Bellzone +44 (0)20 7523 8000

Andrew Chubb/Tarica Mpinga

Renaissance Capital Limited

Joint Broker to Bellzone +44 (0)20 7367 7777

Rob Edwards

Tavistock (UK)

Jos Simson/Mike Bartlett/Paul Youens +44 (0)20 7920 3150 / +44 (0)7899 870 450

PPR (Australia)

David Ikin

+61 (0) 8 9388 0944 / +61 (0) 408 438 772

About Bellzone Mining Plc

Bellzone Mining plc is an exploration and resource development company with iron ore and nickel / copper permits in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.

Kalia Mine

The Company's flagship project, the Kalia Mine Project, is planned to commence production in 2014 and be producing iron ore and iron ore concentrate at a rate of 50 million tonnes per annum in 2018. The Kalia Mine Project has a 6.16 billion tonnes magnetite JORC resource and an oxide JORC resource of 193 million tonnes. A Supergene banded iron formation ("BIF") JORC resource of 92.5 million tonnes at 36.5% Fe has been delineated and shows the potential to upgrade to produce 37 million tonnes of 63% Fe material. The oxide and Supergene BIF resources have been established from just 10.5% of the 55km2 of the mapped surface oxides on the Kalia permit. Drilling results and internal estimates indicate that the Kalia Mine Project has the potential to host more than 10 billion tonnes of magnetite and 2 billion tonnes of oxide.

CIF - Project, Financing & Infrastructure Partner

Bellzone has a definitive agreement ("Agreement") with China International Fund Limited ("CIF"). The Agreement gives CIF right of first refusal to purchase the Kalia Mine Project's production at market rates and CIF commits to providing Bellzone with commercially related funding for the development of the Kalia Mine Project.

The Agreement contains CIF's commitment to fund and build commercially operated rail and port infrastructure that will enable Bellzone to export production from the Kalia Mine Project. The infrastructure is being developed by Kalia Horizon Minerals Pte Limited, an entity that is 90% owned by CIF with Bellzone having a 10% carried interest. The Agreement provides for Bellzone to be the lowest cost user with permanent priority access.

Forécariah JV

Bellzone and CIF have a producing joint venture in the Forécariah region on iron permits that lie between 30 and 80 kilometres from the Guinea coast. Production started in Q1 2012, based on an internal resource estimate of 146 million tonnes of oxide, with an initial production rate of 3-4 mtpa. The Forécariah permits are held in a CIF subsidiary Guinea Development Corporation ("GDC") and will be transferred to the JV operations company Forécariah Guinea Mining SA as per the terms of the definitive and JV shareholder agreements.

Other activities

Bellzone has completed a mapping and surface sampling programme identifying highly prospective targets at its Sadeka Nickel/Copper Project. The VTEM aerial survey has been completed and highly prospective targets have been identified and will form the basis of the 2012 drilling programme due to commence in December 2011.

Chairman's Statement

Our Company has been extremely busy this past year continuing the good work that started before listing in April 2010. The secondary fundraising, significant progress on the ambitious Forécariah project and the continued development at the flagship Kalia Mine Project demonstrate the capacity of the management team.

In the 2010 Annual Report we set out our areas of focus. These were to continue to add value to the Company by:

·; Completing the Kalia Mine studies, including the social economic impact assessment ("SEIA"), environmental impact assessment ("EIA") and definitive feasibility study ("DFS"). The SEIA and EIA studies were completed and approved by the Government during the year. The DFS was substantially completed by the Bellzone Project Team and appointed consultants at the end of Q4 2011 and will be before the board for final approval and publication in Q2 2012

·; Completing the maiden JORC for the oxide resource at Kalia. This was completed and augmented during the year to provide the Company with a resource of 286mt for 104.5mt of recoverable product at 58% Fe

·; Commencing negotiations with CIF for the Kalia Mine financing, commercial off take agreements and the transport agreement. The process for these negotiations commenced during Q4 2011 and the actual discussions are dependent on the completion of CIF's feasibility studies for the rail and port, likely to commence in Q3 2012

·; Completing the Kalia magnetite metallurgical bulk sample. Completed and results announced

·; Ongoing resource development at Kalia with planned JORC upgrades. The maiden resource was increased during the year and the magnetite resource was increased to 6.16 billion tonnes

·; Developing the Forécariah JV project. The project advanced to the stage of stockpiling production in Q1 2012 and with the issue of the outstanding permit in May 2012, the loading of the first vessel is expected to commence immediately on obtaining the permit

·; Assessing the potential of the Sadeka Nickel / Copper targets. The Company invested $1.1 million on an airborne geophysical survey to ensure assessment of any blind targets and subsequent drill target optimisation using the best data available for nickel / copper exploration

·; Completing our due diligence of iron ore targets in Mali. After an initial gravity survey and drilling, the Company decided not to proceed with the project

The most significant corporate event addressed the important aspect of funding for the ongoing development of Kalia and the accelerated development of the Forécariah Joint Venture.

The funding was secured both through a strategic placement with China Sonangol International (S) PTE, a subsidiary of our strategic partner, China International Fund Limited and an institutional equity placing. CIF subscribed for 79 million ordinary shares for proceeds of $103 million while the institutional placing of 102 million ordinary shares provided $133 million for a total capital raising of $236 million. These funds will be utilised in the delivery of our focus areas as outlined above.

The instability in the financial markets has not impacted the activities of our Company and Bellzone remains committed to the projects on the strong belief that the outlook is a strong market for iron ore miners.

2012 will see the Company focus on several key areas for Bellzone's success:

·; Ensuring that the Forécariah JV moves into operations efficiently with a focus on cost management and economic returns to the shareholders

·; Securing finance and infrastructure solutions for Kalia

·; Developing all aspects of the Kalia resource

·; Commencing works to implement the Kalia project plan, including the rail and port

The Board of Directors saw a change with the resignation of our non-executive Director Mr Simon Farrell. The Nomination Committee is currently going through the appropriate process of reviewing skills and candidates for a suitable replacement to further strengthen the Board.

The staff with the leadership of our experienced management team will continue to deliver the outcomes required to reduce the project risk, increase our resources and develop the opportunities that will add value to the Company and our shareholders.

Michael Farrow

Chairman

Operational and Financial Overview

Kalia Resource definition

·; Since commencement of work at Kalia, Bellzone has drilled a total of 127,397 metres (54,359 metres in 2011) over 1,203 drill holes (716 in 2011) and sent 34,747 samples for analysis (13,880 in 2011)

·; The magnetite JORC is measured along 7 kilometres of the 29 kilometre 100% Bellzone owned Kalia strike and stands at 6.16 billion tonne ("bt") and the resource remains open at depth

·; Oxide JORC resource stands at 193mt for 70.15mt of recoverable oxide product grading at 58% iron

·; Supergene JORC resource currently stands at 93mt for 34.5mt of recoverable product grading at +58% iron

·; Next JORC update Q2 2012

Kalia Mine development

·; Mining Convention for the Kalia Mine approved and signed on 28 July 2010

·; Mining Convention passed into Guinea law through Presidential Decree signed on 31 August 2010

·; SEIA and EIA studies for the Kalia Mine completed

·; Highly regarded project team in place

Infrastructure development

·; Kalia Horizons Minerals Pte Ltd ("KHM") incorporated for the development of the infrastructure required for the Kalia Mine

·; US$40 million deposited into KHM by CIF on 14 June 2010 to fund feasibility studies

·; Kalia Logistics SA ("KLS"), 100% owned Guinea subsidiary of KHM established

·; Bellzone signed an Infrastructure Accord (the "Accord") with the Republic of Guinea, announced 17 June 2010 that provides Bellzone with exclusive access to an infrastructure corridor with rights to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies for the rail and port infrastructure

·; Infrastructure Accord passed into Guinea law through Presidential Decree signed on 31 August 2010

·; SEIA and EIA on the infrastructure development completed and ready for submission to Government

·; Engineering and feasibility studies for the rail and port are expected to be published Q3 2012

Forécariah

·; Joint Venture formed to exploit CIF permits situated between 40 and 80kms from a suitable port site

·; Multiple iron ore targets with oxide at surface and magnetite resources

·; The Yomboyeli prospect has been a focus of oxide development work and the Moussaya prospect the focus of magnetite evaluation drilling

·; Internal resource estimate is 158 million tonnes of oxide with an internal resource update due in Q3 2012

·; Accelerated development achieved stockpile production with the initial objective of ramping up to a production rate of 3‐4 mtpa

·; All associated infrastructure completed to export readiness in Q1 2012Phase II and III ramp up expected to reach 10 mtpa

Sadeka Nickel/Copper Project

·; Completed a $1.1million VTEM helicopter survey covering 1,370km2

·; New diamond rig and support vehicles have been deployed for targeted drilling with initial results expected in H2 2012.

Corporate and Finance

·; Raised $236m in March 2011

·; Cash balance at year end $153.1m

·; Resignation of Non-Executive Director Simon Farrell

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

at 31 December 2011

The above consolidated statement of financial position should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 

for the year ended 31 December 2011

The above consolidated statement of comprehensive income should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 31 December 2011

The above consolidated statement of changes in equity should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the year ended 31 December 2011

The above consolidated cash flow statement should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

3. Investment accounted for using the equity method

6. Subsequent events

There are no events subsequent to the year-end that require disclosure.