Overarching AmmLeach Patent Granted in Peru

19 December 2013

Alexander Mining plc

('Alexander' or the 'Company')

Overarching AmmLeach® Patent Granted in Peru for Method for Ammoniacal Leaching

Alexander is pleased to report that it has received notification that its MetaLeach Limited ("MetaLeach") subsidiary has been granted a patent for a Method for Ammoniacal Leaching (Peruvian patent number 6590). This patent forms part of MetaLeach's family of core AmmLeach® technologies and has a standard term of twenty years from the effective date of 14 July 2008 (being the date of original filing).

Martin Rosser, Chief Executive Officer, said: "The grant of our Peru patent for a Method for Ammoniacal Leaching is excellent news given Peru's status as a world class mining country and producer of copper and zinc. The patent is the overarching AmmLeach® patent in our intellectual property portfolio and underpins all applications of the AmmLeach® technology. With its grant in Peru, it is an important addition to the growing list of countries where it has already been granted, i.e. Australia, USA, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa."

Specifically, the granted Peru patent encompasses methods for leaching one or more target metals from an ore, the methods comprising the steps of: curing the ore to be leached through the application of an aqueous solution of a curing agent, producing a cured ore; leaching the cured ore at atmospheric pressure through the application of an ammonium carbonate solution containing free ammonia, producing a pregnant leach solution; and passing the pregnant leach solution to a means for metals recovery.

ENDS

For further information please contact: