ZENITH MINERALS LIMITED — M&A Activity 2009

Oct 6, 2009

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ASX / Media Release

7 October 2009

Meridian to Acquire Additional Tenements For Lennard Shelf Zinc Project

Key points:

• Meridian to acquire four tenements in close proximity to the Lennard Shelf Zinc project in northwest WA,

• Tenements are prospective for zinc and lead mineralisation, with two of the tenements adjacent to existing company-owned resources,

• Consideration consists of A$150,000 cash and issue of 2M ordinary shares, and

• Post this transaction, the area held by Meridian will increase to 679km[2] .

Australian resources company Meridian Minerals Limited (‘Meridian’ or ‘Company’ ) ( ASX: MII ) has significantly increased its tenement holding in northwest Western Australia, signing an agreement with Zinc Co Australia Limited (“Zinc Co”) to purchase four exploration tenements located in close proximity to the Company’s Lennard Shelf Zinc Project (“the Lennard Shelf project”) (refer Figure One).

The tenements (ELA80/4240, ELA80/4251, ELA04/1894 and ELA04/1895), the subject of this transaction, which are in the process of being granted, contain the extensions to the Kapok mineral resources and are prospective for zinc and lead mineralisation over an area of 244km[2] . Tenements E04/1894 and E80/4240 are adjacent to the Goongewa and Kapok mineral resources respectively. The Kapok and Kapok West resources will be the focus of Meridian’s initial work on the Lennard Shelf project. Post this transaction, the area held by Meridian will increase to 679km[2] .

Under the terms of the transaction, Meridian has agreed to pay Zinc Co A$150,000 and issue 2,000,000 fully paid Meridian shares, which will be subject to a twelve month voluntary escrow period. Meridian will pay the consideration for the tenements following the completion of the A$10.5M investment in Meridian by the Chinese group Northwest Mining and Geology Group Co. Ltd for Nonferrous Metals (“NWME”).

Meridian Minerals Managing Director, Jeremy Read, said that the Zinc Co tenements had excellent exploration potential, including the extensions to the Kapok mineral resource and will significantly strengthen the overall Lennard Shelf project package.

“The exploration history of the Lennard Shelf shows that drill focussed exploration programs have been successful over a 30 year period in discovering more zinc and lead resources,” Mr Read said.

“The Zinc Co tenements cover a number of excellent drill targets and one part of our strategy to create value from the Lennard Shelf Project is to grow our current resource base through extension drilling on the current resources and continued exploration.”

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For further information please visit www.meridianminerals.com.au or contact:

Mr Jeremy Read Mr David Tasker Managing Director Professional Public Relations Meridian Minerals Limited Tel: 08 9388 0944 Tel: 07 3844 6444 Mob: 0433 112 936 Mob: 0409 484 322 Em: david.tasker@ppr.com.au

About the Lennard Shelf Project

The Lennard Shelf region is one of the world’s premier Mississippi Valley Type (“MVT”) zinc-lead provinces containing pre-mining zinc-lead resources of 41 million tonnes (“Mt”) @ 7.9% zinc and 3.2% lead.

The MVT style of zinc and lead mineralisation, which occurs on the Lennard Shelf project, produces metal concentrates which are very highly sought by smelting companies due to the very high-grade and clean nature of the concentrates. Of all the resources mined to date, the overall recovery has been around 95% for zinc and 85% for lead. Concentrate grades have also been high with the zinc concentrate historically containing 58-60% zinc and the lead concentrate containing 72-77% lead. It is as a result of their clean, high-grade nature that concentrates from the Lennard Shelf project have in the past attracted a premium price from smelters.

BHP Minerals commenced exploration of the Lennard Shelf region in the late 1970’s and shared the exploration risk through a series of joint ventures. After several years of extensive exploration the Cadjebut deposit was discovered in 1984, Goongewa in 1987 and Kapok in 1989. BHP Minerals and Billiton jointly brought Cadjebut into production in 1987 and in the mid-1990’s both BHP Minerals and Billiton sold their respective interests in the Lennard Shelf Project to Western Metals.

Following purchase of the project, Western Metals continued with exploration and extended the known resources at Cadjebut, Goongewa, Kapok, Kapok West and discovered a new resource at Kutarta. Production from Cadjebut ceased in 1998. Goongewa produced from 1995 to 2001, and Kapok from 1997 until 2003.

Teck purchased the Lennard Shelf assets from the receivers of Western Metals in 2003 and subsequently sold a 50% interest in the project to Noranda (now Xstrata), forming the jointventure company Lennard Shelf Pty Ltd (LSPL).

LSPL undertook exploration within the Lennard Shelf tenements during the field seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Highlights included intersecting previously undiscovered mineralisation at the Palijippa prospect in 2005 where, following further drilling in 2006, an in-house inferred resource was estimated. The Palijippa discovery by LSPL demonstrates the excellent potential of the project area for the discovery of additional mineral resources.

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Mr Jeremy Read, who is a member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Read is a full-time employee of Meridian Minerals Limited. He 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 quality as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Mr Read consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based upon his information in the form and context in which it appears.

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780000 800000 820000
8000000 8000000
GEIKIE GORGE
NATIONAL PARK
"Brooking Springs"
E 04/1649
"Fossil Downs"
M 04/283
Fossil Downs
E 04/1108
M 04/271
Junjuwa
FITZROY CROSSING
E 80/4251
7980000 7980000
M 04/430
M 04/323
"Gogo" E 04/1038
Bayulu M 04/431
E 04/1038
PILLARA
M 04/325
M 04/364
M 04/365
7960000 7960000
E 04/1894
7940000 7940000
GOONGEWA
M 04/360
M 04/139 E 04/1651
M 04/359
L 04/17
L 04/19 M 04/140
L 04/18
M 04/141
M 04/135
M 04/363 Kutarta M 80/323
L 04/23 E 04/1895
G 04/17,18,19 M 04/134
M 04/136 CADJEBUT
M 04/189
Palijippa KAPOK
E 80/4240
Kapok West
M 80/270
M 80/537
7920000 7920000
M 80/538
M 80/539
780000 800000 820000
Tenements purchased from Lennard Shelf Pty Ltd
Derby Broome Exploration Licence 0 5 10km
Mining Lease
Port Hedland MAP Transverse Mercator Projection
AREA General Purpose Lease MGA Zone 51. GDA94 Datum.
Newman Miscellaneous Licence
AUSTRALIAWESTERN Tenements purchased from ZincCo Australia Ltd Exploration Licence MineResource Unit F6, 12 Browning StreetWest End QLD 4101 Tel +61 7 3844 6444Fax +61 7 3844 6555
Geraldton
Prepared: JR Date: Sep 2009
PERTH Kalgoorlie LENNARD SHELF ZINC PROJECT, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Revised: Oct 2009 Drwg: MML-0100
Esperance LOCATION OF TENEMENTS FIGURE 1
Creek
RIVER
Boab
LOUISA
MARGARET
RIVER
Creek
Nipper
Creek
GREAT
Christmas
Creek
Pierre
FITZROY
HIGHWAY
Mount RIVER
NORTHERN
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