EANS-News: Tantalus Rare Earths AG / Ionic Clay Potential (with document)

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Company Information/Update on the progress at the company's Rare
Earths Project

Düsseldorf (euro adhoc) - TANTALUS RARE EARTHS AG

February 2012 Press Release

(Düsseldorf, 03. February 2012; Tantalus Rare Earths AG) David
Rigoll, Managing Director of Tantalus Rare Earths AG, is pleased to
announce the following update on the progress at the company's TRE
Rare Earths Project in Madagascar.

1. Background and Potential

Tantalus Rare Earths AG holds Exploration Licences over 768
individual contiguous blocks situated on the eastern half of the
Ampasindava Peninsular in Madagascar. These are collectively referred
to as the "Licences". The total size of the Licences is 300 km2.

Of this total licence area, the maiden resource of 130Mt of inferred
Resources, announced by the company in December 2011, only relates to
about 14 km2. This initial resource contained 104kt of Rare Earth
Oxides (REO).

An additional 20 km2 was drilled late in 2011 and these results are
currently being processed. This is expected to more than double the
resource tonnage at the time of the next resource upgrade, which is
now planned for late April 2012.

The above areas have been drilled at 200m x 200m spacing, which is
adequate to support a JORC Inferred Resource category. An estimated
further 150Mt of mineralisation was "Unclassified" at the time of the
December Resource statement, as these areas had only been drilled at
a spacing of 500m x 500m.

The continuity of the mineralisation in these areas is encouraging
and the company will be infilling these areas during the second and
third quarters of 2012 to bring this material into the Inferred
Resource category. This will be achieved by a combination of pitting
and the use of highly portable window sample drills.

In combination with the results from the 2011 drilling programme, the
company expects to be able to increase the Inferred Resources to over
400Mt containing approximately 350kt of REO by the end of September
this year.

The overall potential of the Tantalus tenements is massive. All
indications to date are that the regolith, which contains the
mineralisation in the weathered zone above the bedrock, extends over
most of the Licences. Given the 300km2 area of the Licences, the full
potential of the mineralisation in the regolith alone could be over
2Bt.

2. Target Areas

The southern section of the Tantalus tenement area has been
sub-divided into several Target Areas.

Due to technical reasons the map of the target areas is only attached
to this release as a PDF.

The map above shows these Target Areas and the relationship between
the holes and pits for which results are already available and those
for which sampling and assaying is in progress.

The density of available information in Target Area 1 is already
adequate for the full area to be classified as Inferred Resources.

Target Area 2 is a new area for which no resources were included in
the December 2011 Resource Statement. Results from drilling last year
are expected to add a further 60Mt of new resources from this area.

The Befitina Target Area to the west of the sections, which have been
explored to date, continues to show potential.

Once drilling is able to restart in April, after the wet season, the
focus will be in the northern section of Target Area 4, called the
'Caldera'. Drilling is this area has confirmed the presence of good
grades and continuity of mineralisation. However, the drill spacing
of 500m x 500m is not adequate to support an Inferred Resource and a
further 400 holes or pits will be required to bring this material
into that JORC category. The field work and associated analysis is
expected to be completed in time for another major resource upgrade
to be announced in late September.

3. Ionic Clay Potential.

The largest producers of the more valuable HREO's, are in the
southern China "ionic clay" deposits. The ability of these low-grade
ores to release the REE through a simple low cost ionic exchange
mechanism and to produce carbonate concentrates is the key to their
attractive economics. Far lower REO grades can be viable in these
types of materials than in hard rock Rare Earth deposits.

A critical success factor for the Tantalus TRE Project has therefore
been to demonstrate that the mineralisation in the regolith has
"ionic clay" properties.

This was initially confirmed by testwork carried out in mid 2011 by a
major Chinese company. Tantalus is pleased to be able to announce
that these preliminary results have now been confirmed by further
testwork carried out in China, by a major western producer of REO's,
on samples from various parts of the Tantalus regolith
mineralisation.

Further testwork is planned to determine the correlation between the
processing characteristics and the mineralogy of the mineralisation
and to determine the optimum practical processing techniques for use
in a future extraction operation.

4. Individual REO Grades

The full SRK report to accompany the maiden resource statement issued
in December has been received. SRK have produced estimates of the
individual REO grades based on block modelling techniques.

Due to technical reasons the table of the preliminary SRK results is
only attached to this release as a PDF.

The following conclusions can be drawn from these preliminary
results:

- As indicated in previous announcements, the HREO proportion is
around 20% which is very positive for the project - There is evidence
of higher TREO and HREO grades and lower U+Th grades in the lower
Saprolitic clay layers, compared to the overlying ferruginous
material. Again, this is positive, as the Saprolitic Clays appear to
be more amenable to ionic exchange processing techniques. - There is
potential for higher-grade areas within the overall and widespread
extent of the Lateritic Clays. Once more closely defined, these
higher grade areas will be the targets for the initial mining
operations

5. Location and Infrastructure

The project location and characteristics present a number of positive
factors, which will contribute to the successful implementation of
the project:

- The project location and the simplicity of the operation will
significantly reduce infrastructure requirements. - Low power demand
(no crushing and grinding of hard rock) means that site generated
power is feasible. - Raw materials can be supplied directly by sea
and products exported from a simple jetty structure - Labour force
numbers will be relatively low.

The Malagasy government is keen to encourage major new mining project
investments and has established the necessary approvals processes to
facilitate such development. Large mining projects have recently been
permitted and constructed in Madagascar by Rio Tinto and Sherritt.

6. Key Success Factors

The five key success factors for any new Rare Earths project. These
are:

- Location +
- Ionic clays +
- Infrastructure +
- Low Radionuclides +
- High HREO content +
- High upside potential +

Work in the last three months has continued to confirm our confidence
that the TRE Project "ticks all the boxes" for a successful new Rare
Earths Project.

This is shaping up to be a world-class deposit, which could be
brought into production on a short lead-time and at relatively low
capital costs.

2012 promises to be a very exciting year both for the company and for
the TRE Project.

About Tantalus Rare Earths ("TRE")

TRE is a German incorporated holding company whose subsidiaries are
engaged in the exploration and development of rare earths. TRE's
shares are quoted on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

TRE's principal asset is an exploration project located in
north-western Madagascar and comprises rare
earth-tantalum-niobium-zirconium-hafnium enriched dykes and sills and
Rare Earth Element ("REE") bearing Lateritic Clays derived from the
weathering of underlying alkaline intrusives.

There are numerous indications that most of the alkaline intrusive
bodies within the concession are overlain by REE bearing Lateritic
Clays. TRE is therefore considering the whole area underlain by
alkaline intrusives (150 to 170 sq km) as prospective for secondary
REE mineralisation in the weathering crust.

The exploration programme aims to define the primary (vein/skarn
hosted) and secondary (argillaceous Laterites) mineralisation present
on the concession towards a JORC compliant mineral resource estimate
and support a initiation of the staged technical and economic studies
which could lead to mine development and production.

Tantalus Rare Earths AG
Berliner Allee 12
40212 Düsseldorf
Deutschland
Telefon: +49 (0) 211 52391 430
Telefax: +49 (0) 211 52391 200
e-Mail: contact [at] tre-ag.com
Internet: http://www.tre-ag.com

Attachments with Announcement:
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http://resources.euroadhoc.com/us/STaKiRSX
http://resources.euroadhoc.com/us/dulFrVCB

Further inquiry note:
Für weitere Informationen kontaktieren Sie bitte:
Peter Davies, Technical Direktor Tel: +61 (0) 40 929 6676
Email: davies@tre-ag.com}

Ana Ribeiro Blythe Weigh Communications Tel: +44 (0) 207 138 3206
or +44 (0) 7980 321 505

end of announcement euro adhoc
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Attachments with Announcement:
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http://resources.euroadhoc.com/us/STaKiRSX
http://resources.euroadhoc.com/us/dulFrVCB

company: Tantalus Rare Earths AG
Berliner Allee 12
D-40212 Düsseldorf
phone: +49 (0)211 52391 430
FAX: +49 (0)211 52391 200
mail: contact [at] tre-ag.com
WWW: http://www.tre-ag.com
sector: Holding companies
ISIN: DE000A0SMSL4, DE000A1KRQE7
indexes:
stockmarkets: free trade/entry standard: Frankfurt
language: English