Alecto Minerals plc / EPIC: ALO / Market: AIM / Sector: Exploration & Development

25 September 2012

Alecto Minerals plc (?Alecto? or ?the Company?)

Commences Third Phase of Exploration at Mauritanian IOCG Project

Alecto Minerals plc, an  AIM listed multi-commodity exploration and development company with projects in Ethiopia and Mauritania, is pleased to announce a third phase of exploration within the Company?s 613 sq km Wad Amour exploration licence located in the highly prospective Mauritanide mobile belt within Mauritania.

Highlights

• New potential Iron Oxide Copper Gold (?IOCG?) prospect (Gadel) identified as a high priority target by leading independent IOCG specialist Peter Pollard
• Gadel is 24 km SE from the previously identified Chiron IOCG anomaly where rock chip sampling returned up to 5.8% copper, 0.66 g/t gold and 13.9 g/t silver with anomalous copper values over 800m of strike
• Ground magnetics, soil sampling, mapping and trenching is planned to test the suspected extensions to the mineralisation at Chiron and advance Gadel
• Exploration in line with the Company?s strategy to advance the licence to drill ready status ? anticipated during Q2 2013

Alecto Executive Director Damian Conboy said, ?We are increasingly excited about our IOCG prospects in Mauritania, particularly following a recent site visit by IOCG specialist Peter Pollard.  He has not only identified a new high priority target but has strengthened our belief that the entire area has excellent potential to host a significant IOCG deposit.  With the high priority Gadel target being recently identified we will be extending our reconnaissance programmes over the coming months to test this area and investigate possible extensions of the Chiron mineralisation along strike.  We are confident that this campaign will provide Alecto with a better understanding of the nature and size of these targets before drilling commences next year.?

Chiron and Gadel Targets ? 12 Week Work Programme

Peter Pollard, a leading authority on IOCG style mineralisation, visited the Wad Amour licence and selected a number of samples for petrographic analysis.  Mr. Pollard confirmed that the Chiron target has the potential to host Guelb Moghrein style IOCG mineralisation (a deposit owned by First Quantum, 315km to the north-west, where 17,000 tonnes of concentrate is currently produced per month). 

Additionally, he identified the Gadel target to be a high priority target similar in nature to Chiron.  This prospect, which is located 6 km east of the town of Oued d?Amour and some 24km south-east from the Chiron prospect, is now being explored more rapidly.  Resulting from his visit Pollard considered that the entire Wad Amour licence area is prospective for hosting mineralisation of a similar style.  This same geology also extends northwards into the Company?s 756 sq km Chegar licence where it is partially hidden by sand cover.

The Company has now commenced a 12 week field season.  The current exploration programme is focussed on:

?         Advancing the Chiron target as delineated by previous exploration

?         Establishing the character and prospectivity of the Gadel target; and

?         Regional programmes will be conducted to identify additional areas of mineralisation within the licence. 

The last phase of the exploration programme established the presence of up to 5.8% copper, 0.66 g/t gold and 13.9 g/t silver at the East-West trending Chiron anomaly with anomalous copper values over 800m of strike.  Geophysical survey data and satellite imagery indicate that the mineralisation has a strong structural control with mineralisation located in the vicinity of intersecting north-east trending structures with major north-west trending structures.

At Chiron the former ground magnetic survey will be extended for a further 16 sq km along strike to cover the probable extent of mineralisation, the EM34 grid will also be extended in all directions comprising an additional 26km line kilometres of data.  Former soil sampling grids are to be extended to test possible extensions of mineralisation inferred from occasional copper showings along strike and additional detailed mapping programmes are planned to supplement the geochemical and geophysical surveys and support the interpretation of results.

A 1,000m trenching campaign utilising an excavator is planned for October to further test the extent and tenor of mineralisation at the Chiron prospect.  It is anticipated that the planned work programmes will define drill targets for a campaign in Q2 2013.

A campaign of work is planned at the Gadel prospect.  This target is believed to have the potential to host IOCG mineralisation similar in character and style to that at Chiron.  The planned work programme includes soil sampling, mapping and rock chip sampling.

Regional exploration work will continue during the autumn field season with geochemical sampling and alteration mapping concentrating upon targets identified from recently acquired Aster imagery.  More detailed structural and geological mapping based upon the satellite imagery is also planned.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.alectominerals.com or contact:

Notes:

Alecto Minerals plc is an AIM listed exploration company focussed on Africa with a diverse portfolio of exploration assets in Mauritania and Ethiopia.

In Mauritania, it has three gold and base metal development licences totalling 1,902 sq km in the highly prospective Mauritanide mobile belt and two uranium licences totalling 1,592 sq km.  It also holds the 1,953 sq km gold exploration licence in the highly prospective Aysid-Metekel region of north western Ethiopia and the 945 sq km Wayu Boda gold licence in the mineral-rich Adola greenstone belt in southern Ethiopia. 

The Company is committed to conducting exploratory work across its portfolio, designed to strengthen its knowledge of the assets and delineate targets for further exploration.  In tandem, the Board continues to evaluate a number of synergistic assets to build shareholder value.