3 February 2010

Nyota Minerals Limited (?Nyota? or the ?Company?)

TULU KAPI METALLURGICAL TEST RESULTS

Nyota Minerals Limited (AIM:NYO/ASX:NYO), which is focused on the exploration and development of gold and nickel projects in Africa, is pleased to announce highly encouraging results from the metallurgical test work program completed on samples from its Tulu Kapi gold project, Ethiopia, in January 2010.

Nyota Director, Dr Evan Kirby, selected samples totaling 277kg in weight for the metallurgical test work during a site visit to Tulu Kapi in December 2009.  The samples were taken from Diamond drill core from the exploration drilling that formed the basis for the maiden JORC resource estimate of 690,000 ounces.  Samples were taken from both Lodes One and Two.  The metallurgical test work was conducted at AMMTEC Laboratories in Perth, Australia.

The results are considered extremely encouraging and demonstrate the potential for high recoveries and low operating costs when Tulu Kapi commences production.

Melissa Sturgess, Nyota CEO, commented ?we couldn?t be more encouraged by these test results.  The sample of about 300kg is significant and the testwork was done to prefeasibility standards in a world class laboratory, giving us a high level of confidence that when Tulu Kapi commences production we will be able to build a low cost processing plant to extract the gold from the ore.?  

Summarised Results

Details of the Test work

The comminution test work used standard methods and equipment.  Closing screen sizes of 1120 microns and 106 microns were used in the Bond Rod Mill and Ball Mill tests.

The cyanidation work comprised a series of monitored bottle-roll tests, each with duration 24 hours.  Leaching conditions included a lime addition rate of 0.3 kg/t and cyanide solution strength of 0.050%.  An oxygen atmosphere was used in the leaching bottles.  No supplementary cyanide or lime additions were made during the leaches.

The bulk flotation tests were conducted on one kilogram portions of sample in a standard laboratory flotation cell.  The duration of each float was 15 minutes.  In all cases, the mass pull to concentrate was about 10% of the feed mass. 

Selection of The Metallurgical Testwork Samples

All intersections shown on the geological sections were reviewed; a realistic mining width for each intersection was estimated and the value in g.m (g/t * meters width) was calculated.   Intersections with values less than 5 g.m were not considered for sampling.

Intersections with values greater than 5 g.m were then selected from the upper and lower lodes (Lode One and Lode Two respectively).  The half core from these intersections was then sawn and portions of quarter core were taken for the composites.  The average intersection widths and estimated average grades in Lodes One and Two composites were 11.1 m @ 3.1 g/t and 7.2 m @ 4.9 g/t respectively. 

The intersections making up the Lode One and Lode Two composites are summarized below in Tables One and Two.

Table One
Intersections Comprising the Lode One Composite

The total weight of the lode one composite was 154 kg.

Table Two
Intersections Comprising the Lode Two Composite

The total weight of the lode two composite was 123 kg.

Prefeasibility Study Use of the Testwork Results

The test work results will be used to generate pre-feasibility level estimates of the capital and operating costs of gold recovery plants for Tulu Kapi.  The comminution parameters will be used to specify crushing and grinding equipment and estimate wear parts consumption.  The cyanidation and froth flotation results will be used to specify equipment requirements and estimate operating costs and gold recoveries.

Two alternative flow sheets will be considered.  The first consists of crushing and grinding followed by conventional CIP gold recovery.  This is the standard flow sheet used throughout the world where the ore is ?free milling?, i.e. gold can be cyanide leached from finely ground ore. 

An alternative flowsheet involving the production of a concentrate and then cyanidation of the concentrate will also be considered.  This flowsheet has advantages in environmentally sensitive areas and has been implemented in a number of recent gold plants.

In the alternative, the ore is crushed and milled and then gold recovered to a concentrate with a mass of less than 10% of the feed by means of gravity concentration and froth flotation.  The non-toxic tailings from this process, comprising more than 90% of the mass of ore, can be stored in a simple tailings storage facility.  Excess water can be discharged to the environment. 

The concentrate is then subject to intensive cyanidation to recover the gold.  Cyanide is recycled in the leach process and the tailings are detoxified to destroy any residual cyanide.  The tailings from concentrate leaching are then either sold for the sulfur content, or stored in a secure impoundment.

For further information please contact:

Melissa Sturgess

Nyota Minerals Limited

(+44) (0)78 2555 1397 or melissa.sturgess@nyotaminerals.com

Richard Brown/ Richard Greenfield

Ambrian Partners Limited

(+44) (0)20 7634 4700

Press enquiries

Charlie Geller or Leesa Peters

Conduit PR

+44 (0)20 7429 6604/ +44 (0)75 2823 3383

Or visit: http://www.nyotaminerals.com

The technical exploration and mining information contained in this Announcement has been reviewed and approved by Dr Evan Kirby. Dr Kirby has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and as a qualified person under the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies. Dr Kirby is a director of Nyota Minerals Limited and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and metallurgy (Aus.I.M.M). Dr Kirby consents to the inclusion in this Announcement of such information in the form and context in which it appears.