FOCUS MINERALS LTD — Capital/Financing Update 2007

Dec 19, 2007

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MEDIA / ASX RELEASE

PERTH

Level 3 105 St Georges Terrace Perth Western Australia 6000 Phone: 61 8 9215 7888 Fax: 61 8 9215 7889 Email: pwilliams@focusminerals.com.au

ACN 005 470 799

20 December 2007

FEASIBILITY STUDY CONFIRMS VIABILITY OF PERSEVERANCE GOLD PROJECT, COOLGARDIE DEVELOPMENT OF JV PROJECT SCHEDULED TO COMMENCE IN FIRST QUARTER 2008

SUMMARY

• Completion of Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) confirms economic viability of Perseverance Gold Project, Coolgardie.

• Base Case cash flow analysis (based on average grade of 6.9g/t Au) projects a net cash flow of A$19.3M with a Return on Funds Employed (ROFE) of 52%.

• Upside Case (utilizing uncapped grade in main quartz lode of 8.5g/t Au) increases net cash flow to A$32.4M with a ROFE of 88%.

• Base case production of 64,187 ounces over 21 months at average cash operating cost of A$533/ounce.

• Based on results of the BFS, the Redemption Joint Venture has commenced the permitting and tendering of mining contracts.

• Development of the Perseverance ore body scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2008.

• Continued development and exploration drilling in the Tindals area has excellent potential to discover additional Perseverance type ore bodies.

Australian-based gold and nickel company Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX: FML ) and its Redemption Joint Venture (‘RJV’) partner, Canadian-based Committee Bay Resources Ltd (TSXV: CBR ), are pleased to announce the positive results of a Bankable Feasibility Study (‘BFS’) and proposed initial development of the high-grade Perseverance Gold Project , located in the prolific Coolgardie Gold Belt in Western Australia.

The RJV advised today ( Thursday ) that, with the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) at an advanced stage, it has commenced the process of tendering mining contracts and obtaining the final mining permits required to develop the Perseverance Project, with development activities scheduled to commence in early 2008.

“The outcome of the Perseverance Feasibility Study is excellent and represents the culmination of years of hard work by the Joint Venture partners,” commented Focus’ Managing Director Mr Peter Williams. “Even on the base case scenario, which assumes a grade of 6.9g/t Au, the Perseverance Project will be very profitable and we are confident of the potential to increase this grade based on recent drilling results not included in the BFS.”

“The development of Perseverance signals the first important phase in unlocking the value of the Coolgardie Gold Belt and re-opening this rich field to modern mining development,” Mr Williams added.

Feasibility Study

Objectives

The Redemption Joint Venture’s key objective in completing a Bankable Feasibility Study on the Perseverance Deposit is to facilitate the development of an initial high-return gold operation within the Coolgardie Project, which would generate significant cash flow to fund the continued development and exploration of the Tindals Mining Centre and the Coolgardie tenements in general.

The key Feasibility Study outcomes are summarised below:

Assumptions	Base Case	Upside Case
GoldPrice (AUD)	900	900
GoldRoyalty	2.5%	2.5%
**Production **
OreMilled (tonnes)	315,000t	315,000t
AverageMonthlyProduction Rate (tonnes/month)	15,000t	15,000t
OperatingLife (months)	21	21
Grade (g/tAu)	6.9	8.5
MiningRecovery %	90	90
MiningDilution%	20	20
Metallurgical Recovery %	92	92
GoldRecovered (life of mine) ozs	64,187	79,150
CashOperating Costs (AUD/oz)	533	432
TotalCost (AUD/oz)	577	468
CapitalCosts (AUD)	2,800,000	2,800,000
Net Cash Flow (AUD)	19,297,678	32,428,519
Returnon FundsEmployed %	52	88
DevelopmentMonths	11	11
Payback Period (months)	14	10

Mineral Resources

Derwent Geoscience Pty Ltd issued the current mineral resource estimate for the Perseverance deposit based on surface drilling comprising 52 RC and 25 diamond drill holes. The resource has been estimated utilizing Ordinary Kriging within the main Quartz Sulphide zone and Inverse Distance Squared interpolation in the peripheral diorite zone.

The disclosed mineral resource for the Perseverance deposit is summarized in Table 1 below, which was released to market on October 9[th] , 2007.

Table 1. Perseverance Resource

Zone Category	Volume	Tonnes	Aug/t	Au g/t Cut1	Uncut Ozs	Cut1 Ozs
Quartz - Sulphide Inferred Indicated	54,988 109,984	157,036 324,598	2.79 9.35	2.77 7.79	14,086 97,576	13,985 81,296
Diorite Inferred Indicated	86,285 42,469	249,422 123,159	3.06 3.94	2.63 2.72	24,538 15,601	21,090 10,770
Total Indicated	152,453	447,757	7.86	6.4	113,176	92,066 35,075
Total Inferred	141,273	406,458	2.96	2.68	38,624

Resource reported at 1.0 g/t Au lower cut-off grade

1 Upper cut of 35 g/t Au used for quartz sulphide zone, Upper cut of 15 g/t Au used for Diorite zone

The current Perseverance Resource does not incorporate underground grade control drilling completed by the RJV from the recently completed Perseverance decline (see ASX release dated December 12[th] 2007), the results of which indicate the deposit may exhibit higher grades than indicated by the surface drill holes.

Continued development and exploration drilling in the Tindals area has demonstrated that the potential to discover additional Perseverance-type ore bodies is high. Continued exploration and delineation within existing underground infrastructure at the Countess, Tindals and Empress deposits may provide additional near-term ore sources and additions to the resource inventory.

Mineral Reserves

Utilising the base case scenario, a fully diluted minable ore reserve of 315,073 tonnes grading 6.89g/t Au has been calculated for the Perseverance Lode, based upon the following parameters:

• the application of a break-even (operating) cut-off grade of 3.2g/t to determine the stope outline;

• the application of cut-offs on a lode and level basis consistent with the geological resource block breakdown;

• the application of identified ore loss and dilution factors for each of the lodes and mining methods; and

• the determination of the underground reserve based only on JORC compliant Indicated Resources.

Mining

The Perseverance deposit will be mined entirely by underground methods and the ore body will be accessed on 25m vertical level intervals via a spiral incline/decline to be developed from the existing exploration decline.

The mining method selected for the feasibility study is a combination of cut-and-fill and shorter long-hole stoping within each mining panel. This combined method gives good exposure to early ore production from the cut and fill, but limits the higher cost of cut and fill by long-holing a substantial portion of each panel.

Cut-and-fill stoping assumes a minimum mining width of 3.5m with 0.5m dilution applied to both the footwall and hanging wall. Long-hole stopes will be limited to 10m vertical, and have a minimum mining width of 3.0m with 0.75m of dilution applied to both the footwall and hanging wall.

Mineral Processing

Negotiations are at an advanced stage for the treatment of the Perseverance ore at a local toll-treatment facility located 8 kilometres from the project site - at a cost of A$22/tonne. This reduces the exposure to operational issues as the Project will use an established operation that has previously treated similar ores.

This agreement when completed with the treatment facility will fix the price paid for milling the ore, reducing exposure to changes in the milling costs for the project. Cartage costs from the mine to the treatment facility are estimated at A$5/tonne.

Infrastructure

One of the highlights of the proposed Perseverance project is that good quality infrastructure is already established in the area. This is particularly relevant for the underground infrastructure, which includes decline access to within 60 metres of the ore body.

It is expected that there will be very low risk associated with the infrastructure as there is a long operational history in the area.

Exploration

The RJV is continuing to aggressively explore the Tindals Mining Centre and the Redemption Fault Corridor proximal to the Perseverance deposit, and is currently conducting an extensive ground EM survey over the area targeting additional high sulphide Perseverance-style mineralization. Exploration drilling is continuing at Perseverance, targeting downhole EM conductors immediately along strike and downdip of existing mineralization.

Mining reserves at Perseverance are based only on the Indicated portion of the mineral resource. Results from underground grade control drilling conducted by the RJV from the exploration decline are not included in the current mineral resource.

An updated resource is expected to be completed by the end of the first Quarter 2008 which will incorporate the results of underground grade control drilling, and is expected to upgrade a portion of the resource to the Indicated category.

Operating Costs

A mining contractor will be engaged to carry out all work associated with the operation of the underground mine. As with the recently completed development of the Perseverance exploration access decline, an all-encompassing schedule of rates contract will be utilised for the project. This will fix the key operating cost parameters and has the advantage of limiting the exposure of the Project to fluctuations associated with other contract styles.

Operating and capital lump sum and unit rates have been based upon formal tender estimates for underground contract mining as at October 2007 using the mining approach, design and schedule of physical quantities described herein. Other cost estimates have been supplied by RJV or sourced, where specified, from budget quotations, industry benchmarking, in-house databases and evaluations.

Capital Costs

Due to the availability of a significant portion of the infrastructure for the project, there is only a relatively small requirement for new capital works, with the total capital expenditure estimated at A$2.8 million.

ENDS

COMPETENT PERSON’S STATEMENT

The information in this report relating to Resources and Reserves are based on work supervised by Mr Chuck McCormick who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). Mr McCormick has the relevant experience as a “Competent Person” as defined in the 2004 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves in relation to the mineralisation reported on. Mr McCormick is Exploration Manager of Focus Minerals Ltd and consents to the inclusion of the material in the form and content in which it appears.

The following Qualified Persons have contributed to the Perseverance Bankable Feasibility Study:

Darren Gibcus – B.Eng-Mining, M.AusIMM Brett Ustick – B.Eng-Mining, M.AusIMM Dr. Garry Adams – PhD, B.Sc(Hons)-Geology, M.AusIMM, M.AIG, F.SEG Mark Rigby – B.Sc-Geology. M.AusIMM Brian Eaton– B.Eng-Mining, M.AusIMM Stewart Capp - B.Sc(Hons)-Geology, M.AusIMM Coffey Consulting – Hydrogeological, geotechnical and environmental Ammtec Ltd - Metallurgical

Released by: On behalf of: Nicholas Read/Jason Cunningham Peter Williams, Managing Director Read Corporate Focus Minerals Ltd Telephone: (+61-8) 9388-1474 Telephone: (+61-8) 9215-7888 Web: www.focusminerals.com.au

BACKGROUND INFORMATION – FOCUS MINERALS LTD

Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX: FML ) is an Australian-based exploration and development group whose focus is to become a significant gold and nickel producer in the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie-Widgiemooltha region of Western Australia.

Focus Minerals is currently fast tracking development of its wholly-owned Nepean Nickel Project (current estimated resource totalling 591,300t @ 2.2% Ni) located 25km south of Coolgardie. Focus has a view of recommencing mining operations from the historic production centre in 2008.

Through its Redemption Joint Venture with Canadian-based Committee Bay Resources Ltd, Focus Minerals is the largest landholder in the Coolgardie Gold Belt located in Western Australia, 560km east of Perth and 35km west of the ‘Super Pit’ in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. More than 2.6 million ounces of gold has been produced from the Coolgardie gold belt alone since 1892. The Redemption Joint Venture holds the mineral rights to more than 210sq km of tenements including Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources exceeding 1.6 million ounces of gold as well as the 1.2mtpa Three Mile Hill processing plant.