DUSSELDORF, Germany — August 25, 2010 — Tantalus Rare Earths AG of Düsseldorf, Germany, with its 300 km2 Rare Earth project in Northern Madagascar, announces today the appointment three new members to its supervisory board, namely Mr. Jack Lifton, Mr. Benoit M. Violette and Mr. Ben Paton. The new members will join the existing board members and will add comprehensive experience in their respective fields to the company.
Mr. Jack Lifton is one of the leading experts on technology metals, including rare earths, lithium and rare metals in general. Mr. Lifton is a renowned consultant, lecturer and author of many leading articles in this field. With his background as a physical chemist, specializing in high temperature metallurgy, he started out as researcher before moving to marketing and manufacturing executive positions. Mr. Lifton has been involved in the industry for over 48 years and is now utilizing his experience by consulting to global OEMs and institutional investors. He also frequently appears as an invited guest speaker at leading industry conferences worldwide.
Mr. Benoit M. Violette will join the board in his capacity as a professional geologist with extensive experience in generating, financing and managing exploration projects for a wide range of mineral commodities worldwide, including projects in Africa and Canada. Mr. Violette is a member of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec and holds a BSc. honours degree in Geology from the University of Ottawa.
Mr. Ben Paton is a fund manager specializing in European and Emerging Market Smaller companies. He was the lead fund manager for Fidelity’s International Small Cap Fund which grew to total funds under management of approximately USD $3bn in 2008. Mr Paton brings broad experience of investing in the resources sector and early stage projects. He is a London Business School MBA graduate and a qualified Chartered Accountant. His financial background as a successful fund manager and his experience in deal structuring and coordinating financings will be of great value to the company in the future.
“The company is excited to have attracted such excellent talent to its supervisory board. The board with its extensive experience will provide immeasurable guidance to our management and direction of the company”, states Stephen Forman, CEO of Tantalus Rare Earths AG.
In other developments, the company’s 40,000 m diamond core drilling program has started in July. The present drill rate is approximately 200 m per week; two more drill rigs are presently awaiting customs clearance. They are expected on site by mid- September. The first phase of the drilling program concentrates on the main vein hosted rare earth mineralization along the coast plus its southern and north-western extensions. The initial drill grid is 100 m by 400 m, in its final phase the mineralization will be drilled on 50 m centers.
The first line of 10 drill holes is nearing its completion, with vertical holes ranging from 60 to 80 m depth and inclined holes (-45°) ranging from 60 to 120 m in length. The drill cores have confirmed our geological model: Multiple, late stage, rare earth, tantalum, niobium and zirconium bearing sills and dikes of Tertiary alkaline granites have intruded into flat lying Jurassic sediments and caused skarnification along the contact zones. These skarns are also mineralized.
With encountered drilled widths of up to 5 m, the mineralized veins seem to be wider than originally anticipated by earlier explorers, such as the Soviet Geological Mission of the late 1980s. So far, five drill holes have returned multiple intersections which are presumably mineralized with rare earths, tantalum, niobium and zirconium. On this drill line, the zone in which mineralized veins may occur is apparently more than 250m wide. The Soviets were speaking of a maximum width of 200m.
The drill core samples are currently being crushed and homogenized at the company’s sample preparation facility in Ambanja. A first batch of samples will be submitted to ALS Chemex Johannesburg and Vancouver in the coming week for lithium borate fusion followed by ICP-MS (ALS code: ME-MS81). The first results are expected in 4 to 6 weeks from sample submission.
“We are most pleased with the progress of our drilling program. The zone in which mineralized veins occur seems to be wider than anticipated and the encountered widths of mineralized veins are also wider than expected” states Wolfgang Hampel, COO of Tantalus Rare Earth AG.
About Tantalus Rare Earths AG
The mission of Tantalus Rare Earths AG is the identification and development of rare earth exploration and mining projects outside from China, mainly focusing on Africa. Administratively, Tantalus Rare Earths AG is located in Düsseldorf, Germany. Currently, the investment portfolio consists of 100 % of the Tantalus Rare Earths Project in Madagascar.
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