Horizonte Minerals plc / Index: AIM / Epic: HMZ / Sector: Mining

3 April 2007

Horizonte Minerals plc (‘Horizonte’ or ‘the Company’)

Acquisition of New Highly Prospective Nickel Project

Horizonte Minerals plc, the AIM listed exploration and development company focused on Brazil and Peru, is pleased to announce the acquisition of new ground highly prospective for nickel. The Lontra Ni Project is situated in the Araguaia mobile belt which flanks the eastern margin of the Carajas Mineral Province of northern Brazil.

Highlights

• 25,556 hectare land package located 80 km south of a major nickel deposit owned by Xstrata
• Stream sediment sampling identified seven large Ni targets with coincident cobalt and copper in land package
• Rock sample returns 1.6% Ni  emphasizes nickel potential

The 256 sq km Lontra Project consists of five exploration claims, situated 65 km southeast of Horizonte’s Tangara gold project.  The claims are flanked by Xstrata to the north and Teck Cominco claims to the south and southeast. This region is a major new lateritic Ni province with a number of large deposits scheduled to enter into production.  These include a major grassroots laterite nickel discovery by Xstrata, which lies 80 km to the north of the Lontra Project and has reported a resource of 73.3Mt at 1.5% Ni and 0.06% Co. Other laterite nickel deposits in the area include:

The claims cover the Araguaia mobile belt, which is a north-south trending province of Proterozoic clastic sediments hosting a series of ophiolite zones. Over such zones, intense tropical weathering often results in economic concentrations of nickel such as the case of the deposits listed above.

Horizonte initially identified a number of priority nickel targets at the Lontra Project following a regional stream sediment sampling programme in the last quarter of 2006.    Based upon these results Horizonte applied for and was awarded three exploration licences, which are 100% owned by the company.  The company subsequently negotiated two contiguous licence areas from a private Brazilian company where by Horizonte controls 50% of the licences for a payment of US$320,000 to be paid over three years.  Horizonte has the first right of refusal to acquire the remaining 50% interest from its Brazilian partners.  Under the terms of the agreement exploration costs on the partnered area will be funded 50/50 pro rata with the Brazilian partner. Horizonte will manage the project.

A follow-up soil sampling programme covering the priority nickel targets is now underway and, subject to satisfactory results, auger drilling will be used to test for nickel laterite resource potential.

Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin said, “The Lontra Project is located in a very exciting new nickel belt that has not been extensively explored.  The new discovery of Serra da Tapa by Xstrata in the north of the belt demonstrates its potential to host world class Ni deposits.  Naturally, the Lontra Project is early stage but the initial results from our stream sediment sampling programme at the end of 2006 demonstrate that we have a series of highly anomalous nickel target areas supported by high Ni values in rock samples”

Sampling, assaying, and QA/QC

Procedures adopted by Horizonte in the collection, preparation and storage of samples from the auger drilling programme, conform to industry-wide best practice and with chain of custody being observed for all samples. Analysis is undertaken by ACME Labs at its laboratories in Vancouver, Canada, and the Company maintains QA/QC on all analytical work via the inclusion of certified reference materials and field duplicates and blanks, in addition to monitoring of the laboratory’s own internal check-analyses.

The above information has been reviewed and verified by Mr. Jeremy Martin, a Director and Chief Executive of Horizonte, for the purposes of the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in March 2006.  Mr. Martin, with six years of mining and management experience, graduated with a degree in geology from the Camborne School of Mines, and an MSc in mineral exploration from the University of Leicester and is a member in good standing with the Society of Economic Geologists and the Institute of Mining Analysts.

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For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com or contact:

Jeremy Martin/David Hall         Horizonte Minerals plc              Tel: 020 7495 5446

David Paxton                            Hichens Harrison                                  Tel: 020 7382 7785

Hugo de Salis                           St Brides Media & Finance Ltd            Tel: 020 7242 4477

John Frain/Fergal Meegan         Davy                                                    Tel: +353 1 679 6363

Notes to Editors:       

Horizonte Minerals Plc is an AIM listed mineral resources exploration group focused on the discovery, appraisal and development of gold and base metal deposits in Brazil and Peru.  The Company has two gold exploration projects in Brazil, and one silver-zinc-lead project in Peru. The two Brazilian gold projects, Tangara and Falcao, are located to the south of the highly prospective Carajas Mineral Province. Both projects cover an area of approximately 300 sq km and are centred over greenstone belts, with known gold mineralisation. The scale of these project areas, the overall aerial extent of the mineralised system and the high density and magnitude of related gold anomalies (identified in river sediments, surface soils and rocks), indicate the potential for multiple deposit discoveries.

The silver-zinc-lead project is located in the historic mining district of Cerro de Pasco in Central Peru. Sampling and limited historic drilling on this project has demonstrated the high grade potential of this project. The Company has a joint venture with Australian gold producer Troy Resources NL’s 70% owned local subsidiary Sertao Mineracao Ltda to advance its Goias Velho gold exploration project in Brazil.

Felicity Edwards

St Brides Media & Finance Ltd

Aldermary House, 10-15 Queen Street

London EC4N 1TX

Tel: 020 7242 4477

Fax: 020 7651 8689

Email: felicity@sbmf.co.uk