Carpentaria Exploration will spend at least Aus$3.5 million budget on greenfields exploration during the 2011/12 financial year, continuing its aggressive exploration programs across eastern Australia.

Excluding pre-development expenditure at the flagship Hawsons Iron Project, the budget includes provision for more than 3000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling to test already defined targets across five, wholly-owned Carpentaria projects in the Broken Hill and Lachlan Fold Belt regions of New South Wales (NSW) in addition to surface prospecting.

This budget commitment follows the grant of a number of new exploration licences and negotiation of access arrangements in the company's key exploration provinces.

Carpentaria’s executive chairman Nick Sheard says the company is focused on further discoveries following its successes at Hawsons and Euriowie. “Carpentaria is committed to exploration, and the large budget for this year confirms our determination to become a miner as quickly as possible.

“May’s announcement of a successful pre-feasibility study at Hawsons, where we have identified a potential large-scale iron ore project with a base case net present value estimated at Aus$2.8 billion, shows the benefit of our committed approach. However, we are determined to be more than a one-project company and will maintain a strong and diversified project pipeline in eastern Australia.”

At the Koonenberry Nickel Project, six exploration licences covering some 1800sqkm and located 160km north of Broken Hill have recently been granted and will be a major focus of exploration this financial year. Three prospects identified from analysis of the Aus$5 million previously spent on exploration in the area by Inco/Vale will be drill tested as soon as possible in 2011.

High priority prospects include Mt Arrowsmith East, where a past sulphide bearing drill intersection of 22 metres @ 0.23% nickel and 0.18% copper was recorded in a deformed ultramafic intrusion, which is part of a 7km geological belt containing similar intrusions.

At the Temora Gold Project in the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW, access by the NSW Government is expected to allow drilling at the Mother Shipton porphyry gold-copper Prospect this year. More than 30,000 ounces of gold was historically mined from Mother Shipton. Also, shallow historical drill intersections including 4 metres @ 3.95 grams/tonne gold from 2 metres and 6 metres @ 2.35 grams/tonne gold from 38 metres are yet to be followed up.

Elsewhere in the Broken Hill area, Carpentaria’s strategy of identifying a cluster of shallow tin and tungsten resources suitable for low cost extraction is progressing.

www.carpentariaex.com.au

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