North River Resources : Resource Drilling Programme Result

North River Resources plc / Ticker: NRRP / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

North River Resources plc ("North River" or the "Company") Resource expansion drilling programme completed

North River Resources plc, the AIM quoted exploration company, announces drill results and an assessment of its recently completed underground diamond drilling programme at the Namib Project in Namibia.

Highlights

• A total of 4,142 metres of resource drilling completed.

• A number of outstanding intersections continue to support strong resource upside at Namib, although overall results are not expected to grow the Indicated Mineral Resources at this stage, pending further drilling.

• Drill results indicate that refinement of the 3D geological and structural model is required prior to undertaking further drilling and that future resource development targeting is increasingly dependent on accessing additional underground drill positions as the mine is developed.

• Further to the interim drilling results announced on the 21 March and 26 April 2016, an additional 32 holes, totalling 2,959 metres are being reported in this RNS. Significant intersections of mineralisation not previously announced, include:

  • NLDD072: 3.1m (true width of 2 metres) at 8.2% zinc, 28.4m (true width of 7 metres) at 33.2% zinc and 7.9m (true width of 3 metres) at 30.6% zinc

  • NLDD083: 3.5m (true width of 2.5 metres) at 22.0% zinc and 9.7m (true width of 5 metres) at 18.9% zinc

  • NLDDK082: 6.6m (true width of 4 metres) at 20.3% zinc and 10.2% lead

  • NLDDK087: 4.3m (true width of 3 metres) at 16.4% zinc

• The Company continues discussions with the Ministry of Mines and Energy on the grant of the Mining Licence for the Namib Project and remains hopeful that this will be forthcoming in the near term.

• Cash preservation remains a priority and the Company has further reduced corporate overheads and put next step resource development and drilling plans on hold until there is clarity on the timing of moving the project forward to a construction decision.

Details of the completed drilling programme

The drilling programme to test extensions at depth in the North and South orebodies of the Namib resource, which commenced in January 2015, has now been completed. A total of 4,142 metres were drilled, using a contracted Diamec rig together with the Company's own Kempe drill.

The announcement of additional very encouraging intersections continues to support the strong resource upside at Namib and follows previously announced holes from this campaign, including NLDD067 with 57.1 metres (true width of 8.5 metres) at 28.5% zinc, and NLDD069 with 35.7 metres (true width of 9.0 metres) at 33.8% zinc. The overall results of this programme have however been sporadic and will not at this point translate into a significant increase in the Indicated Mineral Resource category to underpin an extension to mine life. The Company has determined that additional infill and extension drilling is certainly warranted to further delineate mineralised zones to the level of confidence required to support Indicated Mineral Resources, but that this should now only be undertaken following further interpretation of the recently completed drilling, which will include an update to the geological and structural model in the light of new data. This drilling programme has highlighted a greater structural complexity that needs to be better understood in order to improve future extension drilling targeting, and that will require ongoing attention if and when the project is taken forward into construction and mining operations.

The geological framework model for the deposit continues to indicate there is no reason to suggest that mineralisation does not continue at depth, but these drilling results show that zone targeting and delineation remains challenging due to the sub-vertical lode geometry and limits of available drilling positions from which to optimise intersection angles. The Company remains confident in the upside of the Mineral Resource, as indicated by both the deep drilling intersections achieved during this latest drilling campaign, and previous down-hole electromagnetic surveying work (see press release of 6 September 2013) projecting potential mineralisation conductors to depths as far as 700 metres below surface. In the short term the Company has put drilling on hold until there is clarity on the timing of moving the project forward to a construction decision, and will concentrate on additional data re- analysis and collection from available drill core, review and interpretation of recent drilling data, and refinements to the 3D model using all available information to improve understanding of the geological structure.

Mining licence and ongoing development

"The Company continues to discuss the granting of the mining licence for the Namib Project with the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and is in the process of providing further detail to support the proposal submitted to the Ministry in April 2016 on meeting the new Mining Licence conditions.

Cash preservation remains a priority and the Company has further reduced corporate overheads and put next step resource development and drilling plans on hold until there is clarity on the timing of moving the project forward to a construction decision. A lower run rate level of expenditure going

into 2017 will extend the available timeframe for the Company to firm up a development plan for the Namib Project or redefine the corporate strategy.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr. Galen White, Principal Geologist of CSA Global (UK) Ltd and a Competent Person who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM). Mr White has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr. White consents to the inclusion in this release, of matters based on his information, in the form and context which it appears.

North River CEO James Beams commented, "These drill results provide further confidence in the potential to grow the Namib mineral resource but at the same time have highlighted the challenges to achieving a step change increase in resource until a construction decision is taken and the mine is further developed during ongoing operations".

Figure 1: Long section of the Mine Looking North East