BeMaX EXECUTES KEY SALES OFF-TAKEAGREEMENTS WITH DUPONT FOR...

BeMaX EXECUTES KEY SALES OFF-TAKE
AGREEMENTS WITH DUPONT FOR POONCARIE MINERAL SANDS

AGREEMENTS IN PLACE TO COVER OVER 90% OF FUTURE PRODUCTION FROM THE GINKGO DEPOSIT

BeMaX Resources NL (ASX: BMX) today (Tuesday) announced formal execution of key sales offtake agreements with EI du Pont de Nemours & Co Inc (DuPont) of the United States for various final products to be derived from the Ginkgo mineral sands deposit, part of the Company's Pooncarie Mineral Sands Project located in Australia's Murray Basin.

Formal execution with DuPont of the sales offtake agreements follows the announcement by BeMaX in August 2002 of commercial contract terms for the sale of ilmenite and leucoxene products from Ginkgo.

The offtake agreements cover the bulk of the Secondary llmenite and Leucoxene products from the Ginkgo Project, as well as granting to DuPont the sole rights as Principal for the purchase and resale of Ginkgo's premium grade Zircon product to global customers. llmenite and leucoxene will form the bulk of production from Ginkgo, while premium grade zircon is a high value mineral with the potential to considerably enhance the economics of the Pooncarie development.

DuPont is the world's largest titanium dioxide pigment producer, with manufacturing plants in the USA, Mexico, Brazil and Taiwan. It is also the largest domestic producer of zircon in the United States with two operating mines in Florida producing heavy minerals including zircon. The purchase of the titaniferous products ilmenite and leucoxene from the Ginkgo project will supplement feedstocks to DuPont's manufacturing plants, while the marketing rights to the zircon will allow it to maintain its long-standing position in the global market for this mineral.

In November 2002, BeMaX announced that it had concluded a product offtake contract and $30 million debt funding and project financing agreement with the National Titanium Dioxide Co Ltd (Cristal) of Saudi Arabia. This offtake contract covered a significant proportion of the annual rutile production from the Pooncarie Project. Contracts for the remainder of the rutile tonnage are currently being negotiated with interested parties.

The agreements with DuPont and Cristal are subject to conditions precedent including the attainment of project finance.

BeMaX Managing Director, Mr Stephen Everett said the offtake contracts were of great strategic importance to the development of Pooncarie, as they completed arrangements for the sale of the bulk of the full suite of mineral production from Ginkgo on a long-term basis, thus effectively underpinning the financing of the Project.

An Information Memorandum and Terms Sheet for the Pooncarie Mineral Sands Project was distributed in December 2002 by BeMaX's Financial Advisors, ABN AMRO Australia Limited, to a group of potential debt financiers.

"We have now agreements and signed contracts covering over 90% of the tonnage of mineral products from Ginkgo, representing over 95% of the total value of Project output for the first five years," Mr Everett went on to say.

"Financial close is expected to occur in late March with construction activities scheduled to commence at Ginkgo in the first half of 2003. Commissioning should then take place by the end of 2004 with delivery of first product to the market in 2005."

In a recent report broking firm, ABN-AMRO Morgans, described BeMaX as a stand-out in the junior resources sector, giving the Company a Speculative Buy recommendation. The report highlighted the Murray Basin as the logical growth area for the mineral sands sector and noted that BeMaX had one of the most enticing project portfolios in the Basin.


Released by:
On behalf of:

Jan Hope / Nicholas Read
Mr Stephen Everett

Jan Hope & Partners
Managing Director

Telephone: (08) 9388-1474