NPM Neptune Min

RNS Number:7511W
Neptune Minerals Plc
17 May 2007

17 MAY 2007

                              Neptune Minerals Plc

         PNG Government grants exploration licences to Neptune Minerals

Neptune Minerals Plc (AIM: NPM) (the "Company" or "Neptune"), a leading explorer
of seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits, is pleased to announce that it has
been granted, pursuant to the Mining Act of Papua New Guinea ("PNG"), four
exploration licences in the territorial waters of PNG.  The tenements, which are
within the New Ireland Province, cover at total area of 326km2 and include
Conical Seamount which hosts gold mineralization similar to the Ladolam deposit
on Lihir Island.  These tenements are held by Neptune Minerals (PNG) Limited, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

Papua New Guinea licences

Neptune has been granted four exploration licences around Lihir Island,
following the Company's exploration licence (EL) applications in May and August
2006:  EL 1425 (Conical), EL 1449 (New World), EL 1457 (Dripela Maunten) and EL
1458 (Fopela Susa).

Each tenement has been granted for an initial two-year period, with a work
commitment during that time to complete high resolution surface mapping and
geophysics and to collect surface samples.

EL 1425 targets Conical Seamount ("Conical") to the south of Lihir Island.
Conical has already been sampled and drilled by joint British and German
research cruises and hosts submarine epithermal gold mineralisation similar to
the Ladolam deposit on Lihir Island (46Moz contained gold, currently being mined
at 650koz per year).  Previous research grab-samples recovered distinctive
epithermal-style polymetallic veins with gold grades reaching 230g/t Au,
averaging 25g/t Au from 40 samples.  Research drilling at the summit plateau of
Conical in 2002 (39 holes, 31% average recovery) confirmed the sub-seafloor
extent of surface gold mineralization and associated alteration to depths of at
least 4.5m.  Drill core samples of clay-silica alteration contain average gold
grades of 14.2g/t Au over lengths of about 30cm and that appear to be part of a
more extensive gold zone.

EL 1449 (New World), EL 1457 (Dripela Maunten) and EL 1458 (Fopela Susa) have
not been researched to any great extent, but cover features similar to Conical
and in similar locations on the flanks of the Lihir seamount massif.

Neptune's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Simon McDonald said:  "These newly
acquired PNG tenements are an exciting addition to Neptune's exploration
portfolio, which now totals more than 300,000km2 including current tenements and
areas under application.  PNG is highly prospective for gold, with Lihir Island
hosting one of the world's largest gold deposits.

"The granting of these four tenements in PNG is an important step in Neptune's
strategy to build a geographically diverse portfolio of quality exploration
tenements, and follows the addition last month of a 200,000km2 licence in the
Federated States of Micronesia," he concluded.

                                      END


For further information please contact:

Simon McDonald (Neptune MD and CEO):                     info@nepmins.com

Olly Cairns (Blue Oar Securities Plc, Nomad and Broker): T: +44 (0) 20 7448 4400

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

The Neptune Minerals Website is www.neptuneminerals.com


Note:

The information in this announcement that relates to geology and drilling
samples, has been prepared and reviewed by Dr Simon McDonald who is a competent
person as described in Part two of the AIM Guidance Notes for Mining and Oil and
Gas Companies.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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