MARROPINO

The mine is located approximately 330 km north-east of the provincial capital of Quelimane, in the Zambezia province in north eastern Mozambique. The deposit is located on a hill of the same name, which peaked at 257 m above mean sea level prior to mining. The surrounding plain has a mean altitude of 180 m above mean sea level.

The pegmatite body strikes approximately east-west and dips shallowly to the south. The exposed strike length in the pit is approximately 550 m and the body has been traced 200 m south of the southern margin of the pit.

As a conventional “truck-and-shovel” operation, the pit is mined in horizontal benches. Ore is trucked to the front end of the process plant situated on the south-east perimeter of the pit. At this stage mining is free dig as kaolinised weathered ore is being extracted from the pit. Within 18 months operations will move into the transitional hard rock zone, at which point an upgrade to the plant will have to have been completed to enable it to handle hard ores.

Resource estimate at 31 December 2007 based on mining since July 2006, being the date of SRK Consulting’s (“SRK”) Accepted Mineral Resource Statement.

Resource Category	Tonnes (Mt)	Ta₂O₅ Grade (ppm)	Contained Ta₂O₅ (k lb)
Indicated
Kaolinised	1.57	225	779
Hard Rock	7.47	230	3,790
Transition Zone	0.22	175	80
Quartz Core	-	-	-
Total Indicated Resources	9.26	228	4,649
Inferred
Kaolinised	0.07	226	30
Hard Rock	0.73	344	550
Transition Zone	0.10	238	50
Quartz Core	0.23	185	90
Total Inferred Resources	1.13	295	720

The mineral resource estimate has been classified in accordance with the SAMREC code.

At planned tantalum production levels the remaining life of mine is 5 ½ years. In 2007 we mined 466,000 tonnes and this is expected to increase to 1,000,000 tonnes in 2008.

Mozambican pegmatites often contain additional minerals such as gemstones including, inter alia, morganite, aquamarine, tourmaline, emerald and topaz. Gem quality morganite in commercial quantities was first encountered by the Company at Marropino in November 2005.

The erratic mode of occurrence of the morganite makes any attempt at estimating a properly classified mineral resource problematic. Using current geological understanding and a conservative approach, it is estimated that between 23,000 kg and 37,000 kg of morganite (rough) may be present in a 3m thick zone below the quartz core of the Marropino pegmatite. As the morganite occurs within the tantalum ore body that is currently being mined, there are no significant incremental costs in extracting the morganite. Based on the current mine plan, about 5,000 kg of morganite will be extracted in 2008.