FIRST QUANTUM MINERALS ANNOUNCES THE SUSPENSION OF OPERATION

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August 27, 2010
www.first-quantum.com
FIRST QUANTUM MINERALS ANNOUNCES THE SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS AT ITS
FRONTIER MINE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
CONFERENCE CALL ON MONDAY AUGUST 30, 2010
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (“First Quantum” or the “Company”, TSX Symbol “FM”, LSE Symbol “FQM”)
announced today that it has suspended operations at its Frontier mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the “RDC”).
This suspension follows the withdrawal of Frontier’s exploitation permit by CAMI, the RDC mining registry, and a letter
received today from SODIMICO, the state-owned mining company which has purportedly been granted Frontier’s titles,
demanding that Frontier stop all mining and exports and leave the mining title areas.
Philip Pascall, First Quantum’s CEO, said “Today’s threats by SODIMICO render it impossible to continue safe and
orderly operations at Frontier. Our immediate concerns are to ensure the safety of our employees in what has
progressively become an unstable environment. It is regrettable that the dispute could not have been resolved in a
rational manner to ensure the continued operation of Frontier. The suspension of Frontier will unfortunately cause great
hardship to our Congolese employees and the surrounding community, and the loss of much needed revenues for the
RDC.”.
First Quantum believes that any purported withdrawal of the Frontier permit is contrary to the Mining Code and RDC law,
amounts to an expropriation of First Quantum’s property, and was initiated against First Quantum as retribution for the
commencement of arbitration relating to the Kolwezi Project, which was reported to have been acquired by London based
ENRC on August 19, 2010. Frontier's operations employed approximately 1500 workers and it was the largest tax payer in
the RDC in 2009.
First Quantum will continue to advance its rights through international arbitration with respect to the Kolwezi Project and
now the Frontier mine and will pursue all other legal remedies available against third parties seeking enrichment through
interference with First Quantum's legal rights.
The Company will hold a conference call to discuss these developments. Further updates will be provided as
warranted.
Conference call and webcast details are as follows:
Date: Monday August 30, 2010
Time: 8:00 am (EST); 1:00 pm (BST)
Dial in: 416-695-6616 / 800-355-4959 /(North America) / 800-6578-9898 (International)
Replay: 416-695-5800 / 800-408-3053 (North America)
Replay Passcode: 3188864
On Behalf of the Board of Directors 12g3-2b-82-4461
of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. Listed in Standard and Poor’s
G. Clive Newall
President

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First Quantum mulls second arbitration case after DRC mine suspended
By: Liezel Hill
30th August 2010

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Base-metals miner First Quantum Minerals may go to international arbitration to protect its rights to the Frontier copper mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after operations were suspended last week.

CEO Philip Pascall said on a conference call that the arbitration case would be heard by Washington's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and could take between two and three years before a resolution.

First Quantum is already involved in another arbitration process, this one under the ICC in Paris, related to the Kolwezi tailings project in the DRC. The Kolwezi case appears likely to be a shorter one, with a result expected during 2011, Pascall said.

First Quantum stopped operations at Frontier and withdrew its staff on Friday after receiving a letter from government-owned Sodimico, which says it has been granted titles for the Frontier operation, demanding that mining be stopped and that the company leave the property.

Pascall said that the withdrawal of the Frontier mining permit has no basis in DRC law, and is amounts to expropriation.

It is effectively “retribution” for First Quantum having initiated international arbitration after the Kolwezi licence was cancelled, he said.

He also warned that the development is bad news for the DRC, as it seeks to attract international investment.

“The fragile foreign investment environment is severely damaged, and likely to remain so for some time without remedial action.”

Pascal was reluctant to comment on any potential outcomes of the arbitration cases, but said that First Quantum's other projects will not be affected by the developments in the DRC.

“While we talk about international arbitration, our focus is elsewhere,” he said.

The company has mines in Zambia and Mauritania, is building the Kevitsa nickel project in Finland and plans to restart the Ravensthorpe project, which it bought from BHP Billiton, early next year.
Edited by: Liezel Hill

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FQM suspended operations at its frontier mine
Friday, 24 Sep 2010

Vancouver based First Quantum Minerals Limited suspended operations at its frontier mine near Ndola, a Zambian town sharing the border with Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa following legal disputes between the miner and that country.

The decision to suspend works at Frontier copper mine comes in the wake of protracted differences with the DR Congo’s mining registry authorities, revoking the licence, resulting in First Quantum Minerals stopping all mining and exports from the frontier.

Mr Dyford Muulwa district commissioner of Mufulira another Zambian town on the Copperbelt mining region in Zambia, sharing the border with the DR Congo confirmed the closure of the copper miner citing mining related obligations.

He said that the frontier mine was closed about 2 weeks ago and we hear the reason is because of the company’s failure to pay mineral royalties to that country. He however, declined to give more details on the closure adding that the matter was being handled between DR Congo authorities and the owners of the mine.

Mr Muulwa added that although the closure did not had direct effect on Zambia’s mining industry since the Frontier mine was not using any smelting, concentrator or refinery facilities in Zambia the action was regrettable because the country could have benefited from the proximity of the miner in the nearest future.

However, recent media reports indicate that the closure of the mine towards the end of August this year arose after DR Congo government had withdrawn the miner’s exploitation permit.

The miner had also received a letter that stated that ‘another’ DR Congo miner Sodimico had been granted Frontier titles and that First Quantum had to stop all mining and exports from Frontier mine and leave the title areas.

Reports indicated that First Quantum Minerals management felt unsafe to continue operating under a hostile environment and that it was seeking to seek arbitration on the matter as well as ensure the safety of its workers at the Frontier mine.

Mr PhilipPascall CEO of First Quantum said that “Today’s threats by Sodimico render it impossible to continue safe and orderly operations at Frontier. Our immediate concerns are to ensure the safety of our employees in what has progressively become an unstable environment. It is regrettable that the dispute could not have been resolved in a rational manner to ensure the continued operation of Frontier.

The Canada based company again said that this was in retaliation over its decision to start arbitration process regarding its Kolwezi project adding that the withdrawal of the exploitation permit for the Frontier mine was contrary to the DRC’s laws and the mining code.

First Quantum took the DRC government to the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration after the State in August 2009, revoked its mining licence for the Kolwezi tailings project a copper and cobalt project in the Katanga province where the company had already spent USD 750 million in acquiring and developing the property.

First Quantum will continue to advance its rights through international arbitration with respect to the Kolwezi project and now the Frontier mine and will pursue all other legal remedies available against third parties seeking enrichment through interference with First Quantum's legal rights.