November 18 , 2004

TERTIARY RESUMES DRILLING AT KAARESSELKÄ GOLD PROJECT IN NORTHERN FINLAND

  • High-Grade Targets At Vanha And Tienvarsi; Near-Surface Zone At Lampi
  • Company Hopes To Build On Previous Drilling By Itself And Geological Survey
  • Results Expected Early In New Year

AIM-listed Tertiary Minerals plc has resumed drilling at its Kaaresselkä gold project in northern Finland where three zones of mineralisation have previously been identified within an area measuring 1.1km by 0.6km. Tertiary’s initial drilling of the property earlier this year returned a number of high-grade intersections from both the near-surface weathered zone and the underlying fresh rock and confirmed that gold mineralisation is distributed over a wide area.

The latest drilling programme will concentrate on the Vanha zone where Tertiary is testing for extensions to high-grade mineralisation (11g/t gold over 4.9m from 75m down-hole) intersected in its earlier drilling. Previous investigation of this zone by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) returned intersections of 7.2g/t gold over 3m and 22g/t over 1.4m.

Further drilling will also test for extensions to gold mineralisation previously encountered by Tertiary (13.5g/t over 2.75m from 15m depth) at the south-east end of the Tienvarsi zone which indicated that gold mineralisation remains open in that direction.

In addition, Tertiary plans to undertake trenching, and possibly follow-up drilling, at the Lampi zone. The company previously reported a near-surface intersection of 3.88g/t gold over 10.3m at Lampi but indicated that the geometry of the zone was not fully understood and was best investigated by trenching.

The current drilling programme at Kaaresselkä will continue until mid-December, with results expected in January 2005, the company adds.

Tertiary was awarded the Kaaresselkä claims last November and, based on results from earlier drilling by the GTK that included a number of intersections of better than 10g/t gold, undertook an initial 10-hole drilling programme on the property. This was completed in June and returned “some of the best results from Kaaresselkä to date”.

Further Information:
Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary Minerals plc. Tel: +44 (0)1625-626203
Ron Marshman/John Greenhalgh, City of London PR Limited. Tel: +44 (0)20-7628-5518