Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtiö Oyj - Company Announcement

Talvivaara signs cooperation agreement with Outokumpu Oyj to conduct a feasibility study on manganese production at the Talvivaara Mine

Talvivaara Mining Company Plc (“Talvivaara” or the “Company”) announces today
that it has signed a Cooperation Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Outokumpu Oyj
(“Outokumpu”) to conduct a feasibility study on manganese production at the
Talvivaara Mine. The feasibility study will encompass an evaluation of the
technical and commercial feasibility of employing electrowinning technology for
the extraction of manganese metal and/or manganese oxide from the leach
solution generated from Talvivaara's bioheapleaching process. 

The ore at the Talvivaara deposits has a manganese content of approximately
0.3%, which should enable annual production of more than 30,000 tonnes of
manganese, according to the Company's present production plan. Over the last
two years, Talvivaara has conducted a pre-feasibility study on the extraction
of manganese and obtained encouraging results for the electrolytic recovery of
high-purity manganese metal and manganese oxide from the leach solution. In the
bioheapleaching process, recovery of manganese has been found to be comparable
to that of nickel and zinc. 

Outokumpu is an international stainless steel company with production plants in
Finland, Sweden, Britain and the United States, and has a continuous need for
base metal alloys such as nickel, ferrochrome, molybdenum and manganese in its
production. 

Commenting on the announcement, Talvivaara's CEO, Pekka Pera, said: “The
potential to produce manganese at the Talvivaara mine is a bonus over and above
our strongly developing nickel operations and it is part of our long term
strategy to expand the scope of our business. As well as potentially generating
additional cash flow to the Company, the commercial production of manganese
would also reduce the environmental burden of our operations and create savings
in operating costs by eliminating manganese removal in the water purification
process. 

We are particularly delighted to be working on this project with Outokumpu, a
leading stainless steel producer with unrivalled expertise in this area.” 

“Outokumpu is very pleased to be involved in the feasibility study, because
Outokumpu is a significant user of manganese”, states Pekka Erkkilä, EVP, from
Outokumpu. 


ENQUIRIES

Talvivaara Mining Company Ltd					Tel: +358 20 7129 800
Pekka Perä							                        
Saila Miettinen-Lähde								

Outokumpu Oyj
Niilo Suutala								Tel: +358  40 734 1767

Merlin									Tel: +44 207 653 6620
Tom Randell
Anca Spiridon



NOTES TO EDITORS

Company Overview

 Talvivaara and its subsidiary Talvivaara  Project Ltd aims to become an
internationally  significant base metals producer with its primary focus on
nickel and zinc using a technology known as bioheapleaching to extract metal
out of low grade ore 
 The Company's main activity is the development and exploitation of two
polymetallic deposits, Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi, in Sotkamo, Finland
(together, the “Talvivaara deposits”) using  bioheapleaching technology (the
"Talvivaara Project") 
  - The Talvivaara deposits comprise one of the largest known sulphide nickel
resources in Europe with 266 million tonnes of ore in measured and indicated
resources 
  - Resources are sufficient to support anticipated production for a minimum of
24 years, expected to start in late 2008, with an expected annual nickel output
of approximately 33,000 tonnes; the Company has the potential to provide
approximately 2.3% of the world's current annual production of nickel by 2010 
  - In addition to the mining of nickel, as by-products of the process, the
mine is also expected to produce zinc (approximately 60,000 tpa), copper
(approximately 10,000 tpa) and cobalt (approximately 1,200 tpa) 
  - The mine site is situated close to existing energy and transportation
infrastructure 
 The Group plans to develop the Talvivaara deposits using bioheapleaching
technology 
  - Bioheapleaching harnesses locally occurring, live bacteria for the
extraction of metals from ore 
  - This technology is already widely used for other metals, notably copper and
gold 
  - During the last two years, the Group has demonstrated the viability of
using the bioheapleaching technology for the extraction of nickel in large
on-site pilot trials 
 The Talvivaara orebody is well-suited for open pit mining due to the thin
overburden, favourable resource geometry and a low waste to ore ratio 
  - The ore has a nickel content of 0.27 per cent. and is well-suited to
bioheapleaching due to both its high sulphide content and its low pH, which
enables rapid leaching with reduced need for chemical catalysis 
 The Company has secured a 10-year off-take agreement for 100 per cent. of its
main product output of nickel and cobalt to Norilsk Nickel 
 With good infrastructure, progressive mining laws, subsidy policies and
economically and politically stable operating environment and readily available
mining expertise, Finland provides a favourable environment for operating a
mine