Exceptional 12,100 Carat Tanzanite Stone Discovered!

TanzaniteOne Limited, the gemstones producer and developer, today announces the recovery of the third largest high quality gemstone ever mined in the 10 years operating history of the tanzanite project.

The 12,100 carat (2.42 kg) rough tanzanite stone was discovered recently at the Company's flagship tanzanite project, in the Simanjiro district of Tanzania. The exceptional stone was recovered from Main Shaft, located in the centre of the Company's licence at a vertical depth of just over 450m. The stone was mined from a newly intersected fold structure, with initial indications suggesting an exceptionally high potential grade and quality yield profile from the structure.

Initial examinations have indicated that it is the third largest tanzanite gemstone recovered by the Company and thought to be the third largest tanzanite stone ever found worldwide.

The gemstone will now undergo appropriate analysis, including colour and clarity grading. The stone is expected to contain a significant 'A' grade component under the tanzanite classification system. It will most likely be divided into smaller but still exceptionally sized pieces to be cut and polished at the Company's own state of the art, in-house cutting facility which was commissioned in December 2010 at the TanzaniteOne mine site.

Bernard Olivier, TanzaniteOne's Chief Executive commented on the find: "This is an extremely exciting discovery for TanzaniteOne and is further evidence of the continued quality of gemstone that is to be found at depth in this unique part of Africa and indeed the world. Whilst we await the results of expert analysis on this significant discovery, we will continue to realise the potential of our mine, which produced a total of US$ 15.8 million in sales for 2010".