RELEASED ON BEHALF OF TERTIARY MINERALS PLC: 8 January 2002 INDEPENDENT SCOPING STUDY INDICATES PAYBACK IN LITTLE MORE THAN TWO YEARS AND AN IRR OF 33% FOR TERTIARY'S ROSENDAL TANTALUM PROJECT · Capital Cost Of US$12.5 Million Assumes Construction Of All-New Process Plant · Annual Output Of 66,000lbs Tantalum Pentoxide And 84,000 Tonnes Feldspar AIM-listed Tertiary Minerals plc says that an independent technical and economic scoping study on its Rosendal tantalum-industrial minerals project in south-west Finland shows development could be economically attractive, with a projected internal rate of return (IRR) of 33p.c. The study is based on a stand-alone operation but the Rosendal deposit is adjacent to an operating feldspar production plant which could provide considerable savings if shared. The scoping study has been carried out by a special team assembled by the Geological Survey of Finland and builds on the results of the previously reported metallurgical testwork by Lakefield Research, the independent Canadian laboratory. This indicated that commercial grades of tantalum, feldspar, quartz and mica concentrate could be produced from Rosendal ore with acceptable recoveries. The calculations were based on the previously announced resource estimate for the Rosendal pegmatite of 1.3 million tonnes grading 289g/tonne tantalum pentoxide and 70p.c. feldspar to a depth of 100m below surface. The scoping study has evaluated a 150,000tpa open pit mining operation with an 11 year life, an overall strip ratio of 3.5:1 and 10p.c. dilution. It also assumed an all-new process plant will be built on site to recover annually an average 66,000lbs of tantalum pentoxide and 84,000t of feldspar concentrates. On this basis, the study estimates a capital cost of US$12.5 million, average annual revenues of US$8.1 million, average annual pre-tax operating profit before interest of US$5.0 million and an IRR of 33p.c. Tertiary believes that, whilst the scoping study is of necessity based on estimated figures for grade, tonnage, capital and operating costs, there is potential to improve these already attractive project economics in a number of areas: · Further drilling could increase the known tonnage of mineralisation as the deposit remains open in all directions. · The grade of ore could be higher than initially indicated. The tantalum grade used in the scoping study (289g/tonne) is the average of the grades returned from surface channel samples and narrow diameter diamond drill holes. The drill core samples may not be sufficiently large enough to provide a representative grade, says Tertiary, as the larger surface channel samples averaged 436g/tonne tantalum pentoxide, and the largest sample taken to date, that for metallurgical testwork, had a grade of 620g/tonne. · The Rosendal project is located adjacent to an existing feldspar production plant and considerable capital and operating cost savings are possible if plant and/or infrastructure can be shared. · The scoping study did not consider the recovery of valuable byproducts (quartz and mica). PROJECT WITHIN RECOGNISED MINING AREA Tertiary says the Rosendal project lies within an established mining area in which pegmatites have been exploited for more than 300 years and mining continues today. It is sparsely populated, the nearest house being 1.4km from the project area. In addition, there are no special or protected natural habitats in the area nor any endangered species, historic sites, areas of groundwater significance or areas of special landscape, topography or geomorphology. Given the project's favourable coastal location, its proximity to European markets, and Finland's political stability, Tertiary says it intends to fast track further evaluation and development of Rosendal, with further drilling scheduled to begin next month. Further Information: Patrick Cheetham, Tertiary Minerals Plc. Tel: 01625-626203; Mobile: 07767-458751 John Greenhalgh/Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd. Tel: 020-7628-5518