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FOCUS MARCH QUARTER DELIVERS ON GROWTH STRATEGY; PRODUCTION UP 28% ON DECEMBER QUARTER

• Laverton operations transformed in just six months since takeover delivering 25,636oz of gold at a cash operating cost of $1,216/oz for the Quarter
• Focus Group delivered 47,489oz for the Quarter, up 28% on Dec 2011 Quarter
• Group on track to deliver 175,000oz of Gold in FY12
• Expansion planned for Open Pit operations in Coolgardie

Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX: FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, said today the March Quarter results show the takeover of Crescent Gold last year has transformed the business, more than doubling Group gold production and delivering on an improvement in operational efficiencies.

Focus acquired Crescent’s Laverton operations, located in the eastern goldfields region of Western Australia, on 6 October 2011 for $59 million in scrip and $11 million in loans to Crescent to recapitalise its operations and deliver on a strategic plan to build new operating areas. The Crescent acquisition doubled Group resources to 4.3 million ounces and trebled reserves to 623,000oz.

In the March Quarter 2012, the Focus Group delivered 25,636oz of gold from Laverton at a cash operating cost of $1,216/oz, a 24% reduction since the September 2011 Quarter during which Focus took control. “When we acquired the Crescent operations, we believed that Laverton could be turned into a profitable and consistent producer,” said Focus Minerals CEO Campbell Baird. “We have delivered on that in just six months.

“The addition of Laverton gives the Focus Group critical mass in terms of production with solid cash margins that enable us to generate solid cash flow, enabling us to pursue exploration and development opportunities with over 4.3Moz of resources spread across more than 1,600 sq km of tenements across our two operating hubs.

“The successful turnaround at Laverton is a great testament to the operational management and personnel on site, and we are now set up well to sustain these production levels moving forward.”

At a Group level, Focus has produced 47,489oz[1] of gold in the March Quarter and is on track to produce 175,000oz of gold this financial year.

During the March Quarter, the new Tindals Open Pit operations continued to perform strongly, with production 23% over budget for the Quarter, helping Focus to offset a 5,000oz shortfall to budget from its Tindals Underground.

“We experienced some geotechnical issues at the Countess ore body in the Tindals underground which led to a shortfall to budgeted production,” said Mr Baird.  “Positively we were able to offset this shortfall with strong production from the open pits, but in combination this saw a 12% reduction in mined grade for the Quarter impacting cash operating costs at Coolgardie for the period which were $1,274/oz.”

Mr Baird said the consistent growth of the Tindals Open Pit operations had driven the decision to expand open pit production in Coolgardie with the commencement of mining from the Greenfields pit, adjacent to its Three Mile Hill processing plant planned for the September Quarter.  Greenfields has an Ore Reserve of 1.1Mt @ 1.7g/t and the ability to deliver a significant lift in the production profile of the open pit operations.

“Greenfields is one of a number of robust projects we have in the Coolgardie field looking to compete for space in the mill,” said Mr Baird.

[1] Based on 100% of Laverton production. Focus owns 81.57% of Crescent Gold Limited and Focus’ interest in Laverton production is therefore pro-rated accordingly.

The Board of Crescent Gold Limited (“Crescent” or “the Company”) wishes to update shareholders on its plan to delist from the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”).

Subsequent to the notification of Crescent’s intention to delist from the ASX (see ASX announcement dated 12 January 2012), Crescent applied to the ASX on 13 February 2012 requesting removal from the official list of ASX under listing rule 17.11.

Crescent has today received written approval from the ASX to be removed from the official list (under ASX listing rule 17.11).

The proposed timetable for de-listing is as follows:

In the coming days Crescent will send a letter to all remaining shareholders on the Company’s register, informing them of Crescent’s intention to seek removal from the official list of ASX and the proposed Suspension Date and Delisting Date.

The Crescent Board considers that de-listing is appropriate for the following reasons:

1. Lack of Liquidity: The Company currently has two members collectively holding 1,187,258,425 shares (95.94%) and the remaining members holding 50,225,828 shares (4.06%). As a result of this low free float, there has been a significant lack of liquidity in trading in the Company’s shares on ASX.
2. Disproportionate Impact on Price: As only small numbers of the Company’s shares are being traded, this has on occasion had a disproportionate impact on the share price and has created considerable volatility.
3. Listing and Related Costs: Maintaining a stock exchange listing adds significant direct costs to the Company’s business. In addition, there are indirect costs associated with the need to devote management time attending to matters relating to the listing which could be directed elsewhere.

Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX: FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Fromson as the Company’s new Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary following the resignation of current CFO Jon Grygorcewicz.

Mr Fromson has more than 30 years industry experience, including 18 years with ASX listed resource companies. His most recent role was CFO and Company Secretary for Bauxite Resources Limited where he played a key role in two large joint ventures with Chinese partners.

“Paul brings a very strong skillset to the Focus Minerals team at an important time in our growth,” said Focus Minerals Chief Executive Officer Campbell Baird.

“In addition to his direct mining industry experience, Paul has also accumulated a wide range of finance, accounting, taxation and commercial experience which he will bring to bear as we consolidate the Laverton and Coolgardie operations,” said Mr Baird.

Mr Fromson has worked for a number of resource companies and was first involved in the gold industry in 1987 through Kobe Alumina, one of the then part owners of the Boddington Gold Mine. Since this time he has held senior finance positions in exploration and mining companies. He has also been a director of the Makit Hardware Cooperative and ran his own successful tax practice for six years. Mr Fromson is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Certified Practising Accountant and a Chartered Company Secretary.

Following its takeover of the Laverton Gold Operations last year, Focus has also recently bolstered its group accounting team with the appointment of Krishna Kulshreshtha as Group Financial Controller. Prior to joining Focus, Mr Kulshreshtha was the Financial Controller & Joint Company Secretary for Rey Resources Ltd and previously Finance Manager-Group Reporting, Tax & Treasury at Anvil Mining Ltd.

Mr Baird said he would like to thank Mr Grygorcewicz for all his hard work in being a part of Focus Minerals’ growth over the past six years. “We wish him well with his future ventures,” he said.

FOCUS MINERALS DELIVERS 47,489oz¹ OF GOLD IN MARCH QUARTER

-    Boosts gold production by 28% in March Quarter -

Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX: FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, has produced 47,489oz^[1] of gold for the March Quarter — a 28% increase on the December Quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Campbell Baird said the growth was due to an improved performance from its recently acquired Laverton operations and ongoing, consistent output from its Coolgardie mines.

Mr Baird said the March Quarter production numbers underlined Focus’ growing status as a major Australian gold producer. “We are delivering strong production growth. On a quarterly production basis we are among the top tier of Australian gold producers,” he said.

Focus’ Laverton operations delivered 25,636oz¹ from its tenth ore processing campaign at the Barrick Granny Smith mill, a 50 day processing campaign. Production from the Coolgardie mines was 21,853oz as forecast, and in line with the preceding Quarter.

“We are on track to deliver consistent, stable production at Laverton and Coolgardie with operational efficiencies that will enable us to achieve margin expansion at a time of strong gold prices,” Mr Baird said.

“At Laverton we have developed three new sources of ore including the Apollo pits and are focused on delivering a structured turnaround.  The improvement in performance has resulted from a combination of the number of open pits in operation giving us blended ore sources to maintain recovery and throughput.  We completed Campaign 10 with over 150,000 tonnes already stockpiled on the ROM pad at a grade of 1.8 g/t in preparation for the next Campaign in the June Quarter.”

“At our Coolgardie operations we have also demonstrated our ability to develop and commission new mines, having established two new mines there in the first half of FY 2012 to grow production.”

Production for the June Quarter is targeted to remain consistent with the March Quarter for both Laverton and Coolgardie.  The Laverton processing campaign at Barrick Granny Smith is scheduled to be 41 days but with mining from higher grade ore zones to sustain stable production.

Gold production for Focus Minerals in the December Quarter was 37,098oz^1.

[1] Based on 100% of Laverton production. Focus owns 81.57% of Crescent Gold Limited and Focus’ interest in Laverton production is therefore pro-rated accordingly.

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TREASURE ISLAND DRILLING UPDATE

Focus Minerals Ltd. (ASX:FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to update the market with preliminary results from its recent infill drilling program at its 100% owned Treasure Island Gold Project on Lake Cowan.

Assay results for 105 infill holes have been received to date, with approximately 50% of the holes returning anomalous gold.  In the original regional reconnaissance program only 2-3% of the holes returned anomalous gold.

The results from the infill data indicate that Focus is beginning to define the position of a mineralised system beneath the lake, with two targets already chosen for preliminary diamond drill testing that is expected to start next week.

“The aircore program on the lake has been testing a potential thrust repeat of the Treasure Island stratigraphy,” said Treasure Island Principal Geologist Dean Goodwin.

“What we have been doing with the infill is to drill down to the base of oxidation through the lake sediment looking for gold as it spreads out away from the primary deposit in the bedrock below (Figure 1).

“A hyper-saline environment like the lake is a perfect place to look for this supergene effect where over time the gold spreads out at the base of the water table creating a blanket. What we achieved in the regional reconnaissance aircore is to find where these blankets are, and now with the infill we are starting to pinpoint where we think the primary ore bodies might be.”

Mr Goodwin said the detailed aeromagnetics show that the structural framework in this area looks very similar to what you see at St Ives.

“There’s a lot of structural complexity evident on the eastern zone, and this level of complexity along with the favourable geology increases the chance of finding gold.

“One of the holes LCAC593 returned a 4m composite grading 1.07g/t gold (part of a 9m end of hole intersection grading 416ppb), which is a significant amount of gold for an aircore program.  This is a strong indicator that we are possibly close to the primary structure.” (Figure 2)

Data is required back from the whole infill drilling program before an assessment can be made of the full potential of the area. The remaining assays for the infill aircore program are expected in the coming weeks.

A lake based diamond drill rig will be on site in the last week of March.

The Treasure Island Gold Project on Lake Cowan is located 35km south-south east along strike from the major gold camp of Kambalda St Ives in Western Australia, where over 15Moz of gold has been discovered over the last 22 years.

A reconnaissance aircore program completed in November 2011 identified a continuous 4km anomalous zone 3km east of Treasure Island, This was subject to infill aircore drilling on an 80m x 40m pattern through January and February.

FOCUS REPORTS STRONG REVENUE AND GOLD PRODUCTION FOR THE HALF YEAR

• Total 1H gold production more than doubles to 80,921oz[1] (69,858oz attributable to Focus), up from 36,339oz in the previous corresponding period
• Consolidated Revenue for 1H 2012 of $104.5M, 113% up from $48.8m for 1H 2011
• Net Operating cash flow up 67% to $21.3M
• Consolidated 1H Net Profit After Tax of $5.9M excluding non-recurring costs Focus’ operations on target for gold production of circa 175,000oz[2] for full financial year

Focus Minerals Limited (ASX: FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to report a strong result for the half year ended 31 December 2011.

Significantly, gold production for the half year increased by 122% to 80,921oz (69,858oz attributable to Focus) and operating cash flow increased 132% to $29.5 million.  This production increase was driven by the ramp-up of operations at Coolgardie and the addition of the Laverton Gold Project, driving a substantial increase in revenue, up 113% to $104.5 million.

Focus’ consolidated net profit after tax for the half was $5.9 million, excluding non-recurring costs of $3.5 million. With the inclusion of these non-recurring costs, reported net profit after tax was $2.4 million.

“This is an excellent result and clearly shows the underlying transformational change that is being achieved by Focus Minerals,” said Focus Chief Executive Campbell Baird.

“Our acquisition of the Laverton Gold Project through the first half and expansion of our operations in Coolgardie has laid the foundations for strong growth.”

“Since we took over the Laverton operations in October 2011 we have started driving a considerable turn-around. We have developed three new sources of ore, are delivering on our production guidance and are focussed on improving operational efficiencies and stability.

“At our existing Coolgardie operations we are focused on driving stability and consistency in our operations. We have developed two new mines in the region through this period which are steadily ramping up.

“All up these developments have us on path to more than double our gold production for FY 12 and considerably increase our operating cash flow generation.”

[1] Includes 100% of production at the Laverton Gold Project.  69,858oz were attributable for the period.

[2] Based on 100% of production at the Laverton Gold Project.

[3] Includes contribution of Crescent Gold @ 81.57% holding from 5 October 2011.

Expanding Operations and Exciting Exploration