Tanzania Minerals Corp. reviews 2012 exploration programme

VANCOUVER, Dec. 18, 2012 - Tanzania Minerals Corp. (the "Company"), (TSX-V: TZM) (FRANKFURT: TM0.F) is pleased to provide a summary of exploration activities on their property portfolio in Tanzania.


Statement from the CEO

Kal Matharu, CEO of Tanzania Minerals Corp. said, "Exploration activity continues to advance on our property portfolio, setting the stage for conducting what the Company hopes to be successful exploration programmes in 2013. In particular, we are excited about our Nyamwaga project and are looking to mobilize a drilling programme there in Q1 of 2013."

The Company's portfolio has grown to over 19,000km2 providing over 20 individual projects with strong exploration potential focused across the Lake Victoria Goldfields.

In 2012, the Company conducted exploration on eight of its gold exploration licences. This work consisted of airborne geophysics interpretation, geological mapping, lithogeochemistry and shallow soil geochemistry. Despite unseasonably heavy rains from April to June hampering soil geochemistry sampling programmes and slow turn around at the assay laboratory, the Company was able to successfully complete its programmes as discussed below.


Mrangi

The final drilling results from the 2011 work programme at Mrangi were received early in 2012. The results identified long intercepts of weak copper mineralization (43 m @ 0.14% Cu) within rhyolitic tuffs, and also elevated gold concentrations (7 m @ 0.53 g/t Au) associated with the contact between the felsic tuff package and mafic tuffs and lavas. Deep overburden soil sampling was performed on a 1.4 km zone along strike from the drilling intercepts containing the elevated gold values. Upon review of the pending assays a limited drilling programme will be initiated, if warranted.


Nyamwaga

This licence is located 5 km along strike from Barrick Africa's Gokona and Nyabigena pits in the Mara District, both of which are concealed beneath thin flows of recent phonolite lava. Extensive shallow soil sampling, including multi-element XRF analyses (2,500 samples) and gold assays (418 samples), have identified three anomalous gold-rich zones, with gold concentrations up to 473 ppb Au. The anomalies are generally coincident with interpreted regional and local structures identified through geophysical interpretation. Additional shallow soil samples for gold were collected on the licence to help refine drilling targets, with assay results pending. The western and eastern licences of the Nyamwaga property are underlain by similar geology. On the western side of the licence a total of 781 shallow soil samples were measured using a handheld XRF to determine their trace element content and a zone anomalous in As, Cu, Pb and Zn was identified.

The results of our analysis on this project to date have made it a priority for future exploration programmes. All targets identified to date are underlain by phonolite lava, and a four-hole (600 m) drilling programme is being planned for Q1 in 2013 to test these anomalies.


Katario (Mrangi East)

Previous exploration at Katario (Mrangi East) took the form of remote sensing studies, airborne geophysics and geological mapping. Fieldwork in 2012 focused on shallow soil geochemistry with the measurement of 717 multi-element XRF readings and 464 soil samples assayed for gold. The highest recorded gold in soil concentration was 130 ppb, with elevated gold values generally related to east-west trending felsic dykes, or NWW-trending faults (interpreted from high-resolution geophysics) which cut a highly foliated mafic tuff and lava sequence. The NWW-trending faults have a similar trend to structures associated with mineralization present 2 km to the north of the licence at the small Kitaria mine (spelling taken from Barth map). The western half of the licences is overlain by a thick sequence of alluvium from the Suguti River, and the area is currently scheduled to be sampled using power augers to carry out deep overburden soil sampling.


Kibara (Mrangi South)

The 103 km2 Kibara property is located in the poorly exposed western extremity of the Musoma-Mara greenstone belt. High-resolution airborne geophysics has identified several exploration targets on the licence, based on faults and splay structures cutting mafic tuffs and interpreted (concealed) iron formation. A total of 1770 XRF multi-element shallow soil samples were collected over approximately 20% of the licence area, that defined anomalous areas in As and Cu that correlated with known mineralization of prospective structure features. Gold soil geochemistry results (647 samples) have only been received over a 6.21 km2 area centred on artisanal workings, with the highest concentration of 940 ppb Au reported. Samples greater than 90 ppb appear to correlate with NWW-trending structures that are interpreted to be faults, some of which have been intruded by younger felsic dykes. The outstanding gold results (421 samples) are pending and should help direct the further identification of drill targets. A wide spaced 500 m by 500 m shallow soil sampling programme is planned for the whole licence in Q1 of 2013.


Fort Ikoma

Reconnaissance mapping, lithogeochemistry sampling (48 samples) and XRF multi-element shallow soil sampling (50 samples) was carried out on the Fort Ikoma licence in March 2012. Results in this poorly exposed area were encouraging, and it was recommended that a licence-wide shallow soil programme be undertaken, with a higher density grid covering the Mugara prospect. The Mugara prospect is a historic gold occurrence, previously mined by artisanal miners, and appears from airborne geophysics and mapping to be at the contact of a hydrothermally altered mafic tuff and late granite. Field activities are temporarily suspended on the licence until new government permits are issued to work in the Ikorongo Game Reserve.


Kagera Licences (Ikimba, Rubale, Rushwa)

These three adjacent licences cover an area of 710 km2 in the relatively unexplored Proterozoic Karagwe-Ankolean Supergroup in northwestern Tanzania. Reconnaissance mapping and lithogeochemistry sampling were conducted in 2012 to determine the prospectively of the rocks with respect to orogenic lode-gold and sedimentary exhalative base metal mineralization. Mapping identified the presence of low-grade metamorphosed pyritic and graphitic schist. It is recommended that a remote sensing structural study be conducted and licence-wide soil and lithogeochemical sampling be carried out.

In addition to the eight licences noted above, a short field visit was also carried out to the Siga project. The licence covers an area of approximately 51 km2 and is underlain by the Archean Siga Mabale greenstone belt and associated granites. Much of the licence is covered by alluvial deposits associated with Lake Nyanza, which obscures the surface geology. The licence is located immediately to the south of the colonial-period Jubilee Reef or 'Augusta Victoria' gold mine, and, where exposed, is underlain by banded iron formation and granite. Gold mineralization at the Jubilee Reef is recorded as being associated by shear-zone hosted quartz veins, and recent mineralization reported by Currie Rose Resources Inc. (TSXV: CUI) at Masabi Hill includes 88 m @ 1.8 g/t Au from 114 m associated with a granitic intrusion. Masabi Hill is located 6 km NW of the Siga property. Masabi and Jubilee Reef style mineralization will be investigated in 2013 through planned shallow soil geochemistry and ground geophysics.

Interpretation of airborne geophysics and a remote sensing study at the Kiagata property has identified several structurally controlled gold targets on the licence. Exploration activities in 2013 will focus on the acquisition and reworking of historic data on the licence, licence-wide reconnaissance shallow multi-element XRF and gold soil geochemistry, with detailed Au sampling over the most prospective structural targets, in addition to geological mapping and lithogeochemical sampling.

Dr. Sandy M. Archibald, PGeo, EurGeol, Consultant Geologist, Aurum Exploration Services, is the Qualified Person who supervised the preparation of the technical data in this news release.

Additional information on Tanzania Minerals Corp., including technical reports and other public documents are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on the Company's website at www.tanzaniaco.com.

Tanzania Minerals Corp. is an emerging junior exploration company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company has an extensive portfolio of mineral exploration projects in Tanzania.


On behalf of the Board of Directors of Tanzania Minerals Corp.

"Kal Matharu"
Kal Matharu, President & CEO



Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward looking statements". Forward looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements.


Image with caption: "Location of Tanzania Mineral Corporation's licences in the Lake Victoria area mentioned in the text. (CNW Group/Tanzania Minerals Corp)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20121218_C9897_PHOTO_EN_22040.jpg



For further information:

Tanzania Minerals Corp.
Kal Matharu, President and CEO
Tel: (204) 942-3191
Fax: (204) 944-0513
www.tanzaniaco.com