African Eagle Resources PLC : Dutwa Metallurgical Testwork Update

African Eagle - Dutwa Metallurgical Testwork Update

Strongly Positive Metallurgical Test Work Results

12 September 2012: African Eagle Resources plc ("African Eagle" or the
"Company") (AIM: AFE; AltX: AEA) is pleased to announce strongly positive
metallurgical test work results for its flagship Dutwa Nickel Project (the
"Project") in Tanzania, which offer a high potential for improvements to both
the Project's capital cost and operating costs.

Following a significant and targeted laboratory metallurgical test campaign on
the Wamangola Ferruginous Siliceous ("FeSi") ores, the results demonstrate that
the FeSi ore is strongly amenable to beneficiation prior to processing and that
the beneficiated ore has improved leach characteristics when compared to the
run-of-mine ("RoM") ore.  The results exceed the promise identified in the 2011
mineralogical studies, conducted by the Natural History Museum (the "NHM"),
while also characterising the significantly improved leach performance of the
beneficiated ores, an outcome that is unexpected.

As a result, beneficiation offers the potential to significantly reduce both the
operating and capital costs of the Project for the equivalent metal output.

Test work highlights for the Wamangola FeSi ore:

* Simple ore beneficiation through low energy scrubbing and water screening
results in significant mass rejection of low grade ore material, minimising
the quantity of plant feed necessary to achieve the Project's targeted
production output;
* A significant upgrade is witnessed in ore head grade with up to a 2 times
nickel ("Ni") grade improvement from around 1% to around 2%;
* Leach characteristics of the beneficiated ore are superior to the RoM ore
with:
* reduced acid consumption;
* shorter leach times; and
* reduced residual acid concentrations minimising neutralisation
requirements;
* Strong potential to reduce the throughput capacity of the process plant to
achieve the equivalent metal output; and
* Strong potential for a reduction in reagent consumption required to secure
optimum metal output.

The test work indicates that between one half and two thirds of the FeSi mined
RoM ore will be rejected from the beneficiation process and that the nickel
grade of this rejected material will be below economic levels.  FeSi ore
comprises approximately 70% of the total resource of the Project.  Test work is
already underway to examine the potential to also beneficiate the Transition ore
which comprises most of the rest of the resource.

Strong potential exists to double the Ni grade of the FeSi ore that is fed to
the plant from around 1% to 2%.  Furthermore, the test work also indicates that
the leach response of the beneficiated FeSi ore, compared to the RoM ore, has
improved characteristics in terms of a reduction in acid consumption, reduction
in leach residence time and a reduction in the quantity of limestone required
for neutralisation with the potential consequence of a reduction in operating
costs and infrastructure requirements.

Commenting on the announcement, African Eagle's CEO, Trevor Moss said "We are
very excited about these metallurgical results which exceed our expectations in
all aspects. They confirm the unusual and positive nature of the Dutwa
mineralisation and demonstrate both the necessity and benefits of doing
extensive and detailed metallurgical test work at this stage of the feasibility
study.

The potential of beneficiating the FeSi ore was highlighted in the NHM report
but these results both exceed our expectations and extend them to highlight
positive leach performance that was not previously identified. Beneficiation
prior to processing on a commercial scale will significantly reduce the amount
of ore we need to process through the hydrometallurgical plant by greater than
50%, whilst almost doubling the nickel head grade with the potential for this to
approach 2% for a significant period of the life of the operation. The improved
leach behaviour of the beneficiated ore results in a smaller plant, which
requires less acid and reagents while maintaining metal output.  This has the
potential to significantly improve the overall Project economics by reducing
both the capital expenditure and the operating costs.

In order to fully capitalise on this strongly positive data we need to expand
our metallurgical test programme through additional testing and to fully
incorporate these results to the pit optimisation and mine scheduling and into
the process model and flowsheet to ensure the pilot plant is configured
appropriately. Therefore, we have decided the most prudent step is to adjust the
scheduling of the pilot plant campaign and to optimise our available funds.  We
need to be confident that the pilot plant is properly configured and
representative of the commercial scale plant we will build ahead of embarking on
this significant programme. The potential capital cost and operating cost
savings on the Project are substantial."

Next Steps
Further bench-scale test work has commenced to confirm the leach variability of
the beneficiated FeSi material and to evaluate the Project's transition ores.
The Company expects this to be concluded around calendar year end.
 Concurrently, the Company is sending the last shipment of the already drilled
bulk sample to Perth WA for use in the pilot testing. The pilot plant test work
will be conducted once the additional bench-scale test work nears completion and
is now expected to commence in Q1 2013.

Further, the Company is performing an in-depth review and detailed analysis of
transport infrastructure with a particular focus on rail systems in Tanzania,
and elsewhere within the East African Community, and will integrate the full
suite of transport and logistics data into the BFS which is now scheduled for
completion during H2 2013.

The Company's previous scoping study assumed that road haulage would be used for
the transportation of reagents and product.  The availability of a viable rail
system would significantly improve transport costs.

Summary Details of Beneficiation Test Results
Batch test work on a selected RoM bulk ore sample from the Wamangola deposit was
undertaken at ALS Ammtec laboratory in Western Australia to assess the
amenability of the sample to upgrading (beneficiation) by the physical process
of scrubbing and wet screening.

The test sample (~0.8 tonnes) comprised composite samples of FeSi ore created
from nine drill holes in accordance with the proposed mining schedule. The
diamond drill hole locations were themselves chosen to be spatially
representative of the planned pit shells. The tests also examined the effect of
scrubber power input on the efficiency of scrubbing i.e. nickel recovery.

Following analysis of detailed test results, a cut size for screening of 3.35mm
was selected as appropriate.  Mass and metal recoveries obtained from
beneficiation by scrubbing and screening for samples that were tested, for two
power inputs (2 kWh/t and 4 kWh/t) are shown in Table 1:

Table 1:  Beneficiation Response of Wamangola Ferruginous Siliceous FeSi Ore

+----------+-------------+-------------+----------+-----------+----------------+
|Power |% Mass|% Nickel|Feed Head|Rejects |Beneficiated |
|Input |Recovery |Recovery |Grade (%|Grade (%|Head Grade (%|
| | | |Ni) |Ni) |Ni) |
+----------+-------------+-------------+----------+-----------+----------------+
|2 kWh/t |36 |74 |0.97 |0.40 |1.96 |
| | | | | | |
|4 kWh/t |39 |77 |0.98 |0.37 |1.95 |
+----------+-------------+-------------+----------+-----------+----------------+

The beneficiation results on the Wamangola FeSi composite ore sample are very
encouraging with around 61% to 64% of the mass being rejected at a grade of less
than 0.5% nickel for the selected power inputs, with an upgrade factor of
approximately two being achieved.  The head grade of the resultant beneficiation
product was 1.95% nickel versus a head grade of 0.98% nickel in the RoM ore.
Nickel recovery into the beneficiated product was demonstrated to be high,
ranging between 74% and 77%. Increasing the power input slightly from 2 to
4kWh/t, which corresponds to an increase in scrubber residence time, improved
the nickel recovery in this step by a small but significant margin of
approximately 3%.

Observations confirmed that potential problems that can occur during scrubbing
of nickel laterite ores, such as formation of viscous slurries or clay balls,
are unlikely to be an issue for the FeSi ore from Wamangola due to the type and
proportions of clay inherent in the Dutwa deposit.

African Eagle is now conducting further work to confirm the beneficiation
upgrade response of FeSi ores through a program of variability test work. The
potential to beneficiate portions of the transition ores is also being examined
in order to unlock greater value from the Dutwa resource.

Atmospheric Leach Test Results on Beneficiation FeSi Product
Bench-scale atmospheric agitated tank leaching tests with concentrated sulphuric
acid at approximately 95(o)C to 100( o)C were also conducted at the ALS Ammtec
laboratory to evaluate the leach performance of the beneficiated product. Leach
times of up to 12 hours were investigated and the results were very positive.
 Nickel extractions, acid additions and calculated acid requirements (kg acid/kg
nickel) for leaching are shown in Table 2.  This also shows results for RoM FeSi
Ore (i.e. ore that has not been beneficiated).

Table 2: Metal Recoveries (and Sulphuric Acid Requirements) for Atmospheric Tank
Leaching of Run-of-Mine and Beneficiated Wamangola FeSi Ores*

+--------+------------+----------+--------+---------------+-------------+
|Test No.|FeSi |Head Grade|% Ni |Acid Addition |Acid Addition|
| |Ore Type |(% Ni) |Recovery|kg/t Leach Feed|kg acid/kg Ni|
| | | | | |Recovered |
+--------+------------+----------+--------+---------------+-------------+
|HY385 |Whole Ore |0.98 |78 |350 |45.8 |
| | | | | | |
|HY449 |Whole Ore |1.00 |83 |401 |49.4 |
| | | | | | |
|HY477 |Whole Ore |0.90 |85 |550 |65.7 |
+--------+------------+----------+--------+---------------+-------------+
|HY1319 |Beneficiated|2.05 |62 |339 |26.6 |
| | | | | | |
|HY1321 |Beneficiated|2.03 |81 |515 |31.2 |
| | | | | | |
|HY1322 |Beneficiated|2.07 |82 |515 |30.0 |
| | | | | | |
|HY1327 |Beneficiated|2.00 |95 |645 |34.7 |
| | | | | | |
|HY1328 |Beneficiated|2.03 |92 |643 |34.0 |
+--------+------------+----------+--------+---------------+-------------+
*12 hours leaching at 95(o)C

The significant economic advantages of beneficiating RoM FeSi ore are clearly
demonstrated by the test results in Table 2.  The sulphuric acid requirement in
terms of kg acid/kg nickel recovered is reduced considerably, by around 50%, due
to the higher nickel content of the leach feed for beneficiated ore versus whole
ore, whilst nickel recoveries remain comparable or are increased.

The leaching of nickel from beneficiated ores, with an acid addition of greater
than 500 kg acid/t leach feed, was also shown to be extremely rapid with
recoveries of greater than 80% being attained after only 8 hours at 515 kg
acid/t leach feed, and in excess of 90% with 645 kg acid/t leach feed (see
Tables 3 and 4, respectively), compared to the previous test work which showed
whole ore leaching required a minimum of 12 hours and up to 24 hours to obtain
Nickel recoveries of between 80 and 90%.

Table 3:  Metal Recoveries from Beneficiated Wamangola FeSi Ore obtained by
Atmospheric Leaching with Acid Addition of 515 kg H(2)SO(4) /t Beneficiation
Product (Leach Feed)

+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
| Time (hrs.) | % Ni Recovery | % Mg Recovery | % Fe Recovery | % Al Recovery |
+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
| 4 | 75.5 | 84.2 | 40.7 | 28.5 |
| | | | | |
| 8 | 79.4 | 88.1 | 49.9 | 37.0 |
| | | | | |
| 12 | 80.9 | 89.6 | 53.2 | 40.2 |
+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+

Table 4:  Metal Recoveries from Beneficiated Wamangola FeSi Ore obtained by
Atmospheric Leaching with Acid Addition of 645 kg H(2)SO(4) /t Beneficiation
Product (Leach Feed)

+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
| Time (hrs.) | % Ni Recovery | % Mg Recovery | % Fe Recovery | % Al Recovery |
+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
| 8 | 94.3 | 96.0 | 84.5 | 75.6 |
| | | | | |
| 10 | 94.7 | 96.6 | 85.4 | 79.2 |
| | | | | |
| 12 | 95.4 | 96.8 | 86.9 | 81.3 |
+-------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+


The leaching behaviour of beneficiated FeSi ore is generally superior to that of
RoM FeSi ore, with nickel dissolution following that of magnesium, with iron and
aluminium also being extensively leached. The majority of the nickel in the
beneficiated product is considered to be associated with Mg-containing clay
minerals and to a lesser extent with nickel-bearing goethite.  This form of
nickel is considered to be relatively faster leaching.

Technical terms
A glossary of technical terms used by African Eagle in this announcement and
other published material may be found at http://africaneagle.co.uk/dutwa-
glossary.asp.

Qualified Person
Information in this report relating to metallurgical test results is based on
data reviewed by Chad Czerny PhD, Project Manager - Metallurgy for African Eagle
Resources, who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy, has more than 20 years' relevant experience in the mining and
metallurgical industry, and is a Qualified Person under AIM guidelines. Dr
Czerny consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in
which it appears.


For further information, please visit www.africaneagle.co.uk or contact:

African Eagle Resources plc
Trevor Moss, CEO
Alex Buck
+44 20 7248 6059

Canaccord Genuity Limited (NOMAD and Joint Broker)
Rob Collins or Andrew Chubb
+ 44 20 7523 8000

Ocean Equities Limited (Joint Broker)
Guy Wilkes
+44 20 7786 4370

Russell & Associates, Johannesburg
Charmane Russell or Marion Brower
+27 11 880 3924


About African Eagle
African Eagle Resources plc is a nickel development and exploration company
listed on the London AIM (AFE) and Johannesburg AltX (AEA) stock exchanges. The
Company's flagship project is the Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania located about
25km south of Lake Victoria and 110km east of Mwanza within greenstone gold
belts which host many of Tanzania's operating and developing gold mines. The
Company is currently conducting a Bankable Feasibility Study, which is due for
publication during 2013.




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Source: African Eagle Resources PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1640311]




Unternehmen: African Eagle Resources PLC - ISIN: GB0003394813