ASX RELEASE. Drilling Commenced at Monax s Punt Hill Copper-Gold Project

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1 Exploration Office Warehouse I, 5 Butler Blvd BurbridgeBusinessPark Adelaide Airport SA 5950 Postal Address PO Box 247 Export Park SA 5950 ABN: Tel: Fax: For Immediate Release Monday, 20 August 2012 ASX RELEASE Drilling Commenced at Monax s Punt Hill Copper-Gold Project HIGHLIGHTS Drilling commenced at Monax s Punt Hill Copper-Gold Project Aboriginal heritage clearance completed in late July Targeting large copper-rich skarn system discovered in US$2.5 million budget approved by major Chilean-based copper mining company, Antofagasta $60,000 PACE funding received from South Australian Government for the project Monax Mining Limited (ASX: MOX) ( Monax or Company ) has announced that a significant diamond drilling program has commenced at its Punt Hill Copper-Gold Project in northern South Australia (Figure 1). The Monax Antofagasta Minerals Adelaide Pty Ltd ( Antofagasta ) Technical Committee has met regularly over the past nine months to plan the second phase of exploration as part of the Antofagasta farm-in. As a result, a US$2.5 million exploration budget has been approved for the project and will be funded by Antofagasta. An Aboriginal heritage clearance has also recently been completed to facilitate the drilling. In addition to Monax s 2011 drilling program, further advancements in the Project have included: a detailed petrological study and strategic targeting session involving Antofagasta and Monax geologists; a $60,000 PACE grant from the South Australian Government; refined geophysical processing, and; inversion modelling to assist with drill site selection. Fourteen drill site locations have now been identified to facilitate an investigation of the significant alteration and mineralisation system discovered by Monax in Page 1

2 Figure 1. Punt Hill Project location Page 2

3 2012 Diamond Drilling Program The current drilling program is designed to explore a greater area surrounding the Groundhog and Prairie Dog prospects, where Monax made significant discoveries during drilling in (Table 1). The location of proposed drill holes is shown in Figure 2. Drilling to date indicates the skarn style alteration and mineralisation system is well in excess of 10km in length and may extend as much as 5km in width, from the Hoary prospect in the south, through Whistle Pig, Woodchuck, Groundhog, Prairie Dog and Otcheck prospects to the north. This is similar in size to the alteration and mineralisation footprint of the giant Olympic Dam deposit. During the current program, a further 7-8 diamond drill holes are planned to further evaluate a highly-prospective area, which Monax believes is extremely under-explored. The drilling aims to define both the dimensions of the system and discover high grade mineralisation. Figure 2. Proposed drill hole locations (red dots) and existing prospects (yellow) on Bouguer Gravity_UC1kR image. Monax Mining Managing Director, Mr Gary Ferris, said, We are excited to be back aggressively exploring at our flagship Punt Hill Project with partner company Antofagasta. The project is located in the heart of a world-class mineral district, and recent activities by our competitors in the area - such as majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto - demonstrate the potential value of our real estate. Page 3

4 Mineralised intersections drilled by the Company in still rank the highest of any projects behind the four known major deposits. We believe that a company-changing discovery could potentially only be one drill hole away, and for that reason we need to continue to persist with our exploration efforts. History demonstrates that patience, persistence and good geology are the key ingredients to success in this iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) province. Punt Hill Project The Punt Hill project is located within the highly prospective Olympic IOCG province on the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton. This province is host to the Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill mines, as well as the recently discovered Carrapateena and Hillside deposits (Figure 3). Under its farm-in agreement with Monax, Antofagasta can earn a 51% interest in the Punt Hill Project by investing a total of US$4 million over four years. The Chilean major has already reached its required initial US$1.5 million expenditure within the defined two year period. Antofagasta can earn a further 19% equity in the project by expending an additional minimum amount of US$5 million by preparing and delivering to Monax a Scoping Study on any project or projects within the Punt Hill mining project tenements. If a development decision is made, Antofagasta will pay Monax a success fee of US$10 million. 26 holes to date have been drilled at the Punt Hill Project for a total of 22,255m. Table 1. Significant drill hole intersections Punt Hill Project. Prospect Drillhole Depth Interval Copper Gold Silver Zinc REE Whistle Pig WPDD m 60m 0.13% 0.03 g/t Woodchuck WDDD m 18m 0.42% m 70m 0.41% including 28m 0.82% 10g/t Groundhog GHDD m 17m 0.41% m 126m 0.40% 0.24% including 14m 0.70% and 14m 1.00% 0.25 g/t 4.5 g/t GHDD m 162m 0.34% including 28m 0.70% GHDD m 76m 0.22% 2.2 g/t including 22m 0.28% GHDD m 122m 0.47% 0.1 g/t 6.6 g/t 0.38% including 48m 0.69% 0.11 g/t 8.75 g/t 0.48% and 15m 0.96% 0.13 g/t 10.5 g/t 0.52% GHDD m 159m 0.47% 0.12 g/t 5.3 g/t 0.48% including 17m 1.1% 8.5 g/t 1.2% Prairie Dog PDDD m 29m 0.12% m 11m 0.22% m 13m 0.55% m 13m 0.33% PDDD m 158m 0.32% m 99m 0.24% including 1m 7.58% 0.3 g/t 144 g/t Note: all holes drilled vertical, basement units interpreted to be flay-lying representing true widths. Page 4

5 Figure 3. Olympic IOCG Province, Gawler Craton, South Australia, showing location of the Company s Punt Hill Project and other IOCG deposits. Gary Ferris Managing Director, Duncan Gordon Monax Mining Investor Relations Ph: (08) Ph: info@monaxmining.com.au The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Mr G M Ferris, who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Ferris is employed full time by the Company as Managing Director and, has a minimum of five years relevant experience in the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and qualifies 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 Ferris consents to the inclusion of the information in this report in the form and context in which it appears. Page 5