New Mineral Licence and Scholarship Programme Deepen Australia-Pakistan Links In a ceremony attended today by the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Australia, Tethyan CopperCompany Limited (TYC: ASX) was granted a Reconnaissance Licence by the Government of the Province of Balochistan covering 4,369 square kilometres of the Chagai Hills Region in northern Balochistan, Pakistan.
The new Licence covers extensions of the Tethyan Magmatic Arc, a major copper belt that also hosts the Company’s existing project
ounces of gold have been delineated in Inferred and Indicated Resources. Tethyan has been active in the development of its mineral assets in Balochistan since 2000.
The Reconnaissance Licence granted to Tethyan today lies approximately 100 kilometres east of Reko Diq. Tethyan has completed satellite image studies of the area, and this work, combined with data from previous explorers, has identified a number of potential porphyry copper-gold targets in the new Licence area. Under the Balochistan Mining Rules (2002) a Reconnaissance Licence is granted for a period of one year, after which portions of it
1,000 square kilometres in area.
The granting of the new Licence underlines the close cooperation that has been achieved between Tethyan, as a major foreign investor in Balochistan, and the Balochistan Government.
The Balochistan Government is a joint venture partner with
agreed to negotiate a broadly equivalent interest for the Government in the new Reconnaissance Licence.
As a further indication of Tethyan’s on going commitment toBalochistan, the Company today also announced that it intends to fund a Ph.D scholarship programme of A$20,000 per annum for three years beginning in 2006 in collaboration with the University of Western Australia.
The scholarship will be provided to the recently established Centre for Muslim States and Societies atthe University of Western Australia.
This Centre focuses on high quality research into the politics, economics and culture of Muslim states and societies. It aims to do so by engaging scholars and researchers from Australia and internationally so as to acquire a deeper understanding of events and developments in Muslim countries.
Committed to building this understanding, the Tethyan Scholarship at the University of Western Australia will be offered to a Pakistani student with the aim of conducting research on Pakistan. The candidate will be selected through a competitive process involving an Advisory Committee in accordance with the rules of the University of Western Australia. The University will provide the candidate with a scholarship to cover tuition fees for the three years of enrolment. Preference will be given to graduates from Balochistan.
RELEASED BY: ON BEHALF OF: Jan Hope/Nicholas Read Mr David Moore, Managing Director Jan Hope & Partners Tethyan Copper Company Limited Tel (618) 9388 1474 Tel (618) 9226 4646 Fax (618) 9481 1355 www.tethyan.com