Vanuatu licences

Neptune Minerals Plc (NPM.L) – the AIM listed explorer and developer of Seafloor Massive Sulphide (“SMS”) deposits – announces that it has been granted, pursuant to the Mines and Minerals Act of the Republic of Vanuatu (“Vanuatu”), ten prospecting licences (PL 1627-1636) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Vanuatu.

The licences have been granted to Neptune Minerals (Vanuatu) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, and cover a total area of 914km2.  Each licence has been granted for an initial three-year period, with a work commitment during that time to complete high resolution surface mapping and geophysics and to collect surface and sub-surface samples.

The tenements are contiguous and cover the Gemini-Oscostar Volcanic Complex, part of the New Hebrides Arc situated to the south of Aneityum, the southernmost island of Vanuatu’s Tafea island chain. Exploration over this area by researchers from CSIRO in 2004 recovered sulphide rock samples by dredging and detected hydrothermal activity. Both are considered strong indications of the presence of SMS mineralization.

Management additions

Neptune is pleased to announce further strengthening of its management team with the appointment of Mr Glen Parsons as Corporate Development Manager and Mr Glenn Creed as Environment Manager.

Glen Parsons has over 15 years' international experience in corporate finance, treasury and general management.  During this time he has built new teams and divisions within various organisations. He became an executive director of RFC Corporate Finance Ltd, a niche focussed minerals resources investment bank.  Glen was responsible for the successful implementation of the strategic investment by Newmont Mining Corporation, being a 10.85% equity interest in Neptune.  He has specific AIM experience in terms of AIM regulation and has been involved with a number of successful equity and debt raisings for junior and developing mining companies.

Glenn Creed has 13 years' experience in environment and safety management within the mining and construction industry, throughout Australia and internationally. He was part of Placer Dome's global EHS team, consulting to numerous projects across the South West Pacific, Canada, Africa, China and the Americas.  Through this position, Glenn was responsible for the environmental management of Placer Dome's deep sea mineral exploration.  This involved the design, coordination and management of deep sea monitoring and scientific research programs.  Glenn has also held positions of Vice President of Sustainability for Nautilus Minerals and most recently, EHS Manager with a global engineering and construction group.

Neptune's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Simon McDonald, said: 

 “The granting of the prospecting licences in Vanuatu is another important step in Neptune’s strategy of building a diverse geographic portfolio of quality SMS acreage. Neptune now has 265,000km2 of granted tenements in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia and now Vanuatu. This is complemented by the 362,000km2 of applications Neptune has in five countries”. 

“We are also delighted that two individuals of the calibre of Glen Parsons and Glenn Creed have joined the Company. The experience they bring will be critical as Neptune enters an important growth phase”.

For further information please contact:

Simon McDonald (Neptune MD and CEO):                                   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Olly Cairns (Blue Oar Securities Plc, Nomad and Broker):       T: +61 (0) 8 6430 1631 

Sofia Rehman (Cardew Group, PR):                                             T: +44 (0) 20 7930 0777

 Download PDF file