Quarterly Report

Tertiary Minerals PLC
27 October 2005


                             TERTIARY MINERALS PLC

                         QUARTERLY REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
                     FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2005
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INTRODUCTION

This report gives details of corporate developments, the results of exploration
and development work carried out by Tertiary Minerals plc ('Tertiary Minerals'
or 'the Company') and significant developments reported by its associate Sunrise
Diamonds plc ('Sunrise Diamonds') during the quarter ended 30 September 2005 and
up to the date of this report.

CORPORATE

Sunrise Diamonds plc

Associated company Sunrise Diamonds continues to report good progress from its
Kuusamo diamond exploration project in Finland. Since the date of the last
quarterly report Sunrise Diamonds has made two announcements advising :

   • The discovery of two new kimberlites in the Kuusamo project whilst drill
     testing Anomalies 45 and 47


   • The recovery of 5 micro-diamonds from a 23kg sample of the kimberlite
     discovered at Anomaly 45

Sunrise Diamonds shares continue to trade at a premium to the issue price at the
time of Admission to trading on AIM. Tertiary Minerals currently holds
20,000,000 ordinary shares in Sunrise Diamonds (26.53% of the issued capital).

Sunrise Diamonds shares management and office facilities with Tertiary Minerals
plc for the time being. This provides cost advantages to both companies.

TANTALUM PROJECTS

The Company has recently presented a paper at the Tantalum and Niobium World
Symposium in Thailand organised by the Tantalum and Niobium International Study
Centre (TIC).

The abstract of this paper entitled 'The giant Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium
deposit, Saudi Arabia - a future source of raw materials' is appended to this
report and a complete copy of the Company's presentation can be found on the
Company's website www.tertiaryminerals.com.



Tantalum Market

Participation in the TIC Symposium allows the Company to update shareholders on
current tantalum market conditions and developments.

Presentations made at the Tantalum and Niobium World Symposium confirm that the
market for tantalum has now recovered to the record volumes of the year 2000
volumes following the bursting of the 'tech' bubble in 2000/2001. Demand for
tantalum raw materials is currently running at 6 million pounds (lbs) per annum
Ta2O5.

After a strong recovery last year, anecdotal evidence suggests that the rise in
spot prices for tantalum has stalled in recent months whilst processor
inventories remain above normal levels. Spot prices account for a relatively
small percentage of overall tantalum raw material sales with most sales being
made on long-term take-or-pay contracts at higher than current spot prices.

The structure of the raw material processing industry (i.e. the customers for
the Company's future tantalum production) continues to evolve, with increasing
demand from China for tantalum raw materials as its domestic processing and
electronics industries develop. Most Chinese raw material demand is met by the
spot market and is mainly sourced from Africa, often from organised artisanal
mining activities on alluvial or soft, weathered-rock tantalum and niobium
deposits. These sources have natural supply and expansion limitations. The major
Western raw material processors currently source the majority of their raw
material supply on long-term contracts from Sons of Gwalia's Australian higher
cost hard-rock mining operations in Australia. A significant supply of raw
material, the US Defence Logistics Agency (DLA) stockpile, which traditionally
supplies approximately 500,000 lbs per annum of Ta2O5 in concentrates, will be
depleted within 12 months at current disposal rates.

The market for tantalum has historically grown at 8% per annum and whilst the
current growth-rate is unclear, the mid-range estimate presented by Sons of
Gwalia suggests 5% per annum at present. Tantalum's main use is in the
manufacture of capacitors where the trend to smaller case sizes has led to
reduced tantalum consumption per capacitor unit. However this reduction in unit
consumption is offset by the need for an increased number of capacitor units in
each operating device (e.g. mobile phones and gaming platforms) to deliver their
ever-increasing functionality. Strong growth for tantalum is also coming from
the semiconductor chip manufacturing industry where the trend to substitute
copper for aluminium in wiring lines requires a tantalum coating. Another strong
growth market for tantalum is for use in medical applications.

The market for niobium, another important component of the Company's Ghurayyah
ore, continues to grow strongly on the back of strong demand for ferro-niobium
use in steel, the dominant market for niobium. Annual niobium demand is
currently 120,000,000 lbs per annum and raw material prices remain stable.

Ghurayyah - Tantalum
Saudi Arabia - Tertiary Minerals 100%

During the quarter work commenced on the Preliminary Feasibility Study for
Ghurayyah. This study will include metallurgical testwork designed to optimise
the process flow sheet, resource upgrading and further financial, technical and
marketing studies.

Seven tonnes of representative mineralised material from previous drilling
programmes has been assembled in Jeddah for shipment to selected metallurgical
laboratories for further metallurgical testwork.

The full scope of further preliminary and bankable feasibility studies is being
finalised by St. Barbara Consulting. SRK Consulting has designed a programme of
further drilling and sampling to upgrade the current large Inferred Mineral
Resource of 385 million tonnes to Indicated Resource Status and to allow 20
years of reserves to be established on finalisation of a feasibility study.

The current market dynamics in the tantalum industry are considered by the
Company to be very positive for the orderly development of the Ghurayyah
project:

   • Manufacturers of electronic circuitry are concerned that there is no
    long-term stable supply of tantalum. These fears lead directly to the
    tantalum price bubbles including that in the year 2000. Ghurayyah has a
    projected mine life of over 200 years at the scoping study level of
    production.


   • The need for further diversity in the raw material supply chain is
    heightened by the fact that Sons of Gwalia remains in Administration.

   • The long-term growth in the market for tantalum and the depletion of a
    significant raw material source in the DLA stockpiles provides an opening
    for new producers to enter the market without creating an oversupply in the
    short term.


Further meetings and negotiations have been taking place in the UK and in Saudi
Arabia with parties interested in funding the further feasibility studies on the
Company's world-class Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium project. These discussions have
been positive and we are hopeful of concluding an attractive joint venture
agreement.

BASE METAL PROJECTS

Nottrask Nickel Project
Sweden - Tertiary Minerals 100%

Last quarter it was reported that a drill programme to test possible sulphide
conductors for nickel-copper mineralisation was curtailed after preliminary
assays from the first drill hole, which intersected multiple narrow (10cm and
less) bands of massive sulphides within a 50m wide zone, returned only low
nickel and copper values (but elevated values in platinum and gold).

More comprehensive assaying of this massive sulphide zone has now been
completed. The dominant sulphide is pyrrhotite and assay results for nickel and
copper were uniformly low and no higher values in gold or platinum were found.

Based on detailed core logging it is now considered that the new zone of
sulphide mineralisation discovered by the recent drilling is the result of
assimilation of barren sulphide-bearing sedimentary rocks into the interior of
the Nottrask intrusion. No further work is planned for this zone.


OTHER PROJECTS

No work was carried out on the Company's other base metal and gold projects
during the quarter but further work programmes are planned.



Patrick Cheetham                            27 October 2005
Executive Chairman

For further information please contact:

Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, 
Tertiary Minerals plc.                      Tel:[phone]

Ron Marshman/John Greenhalgh, 
City of London PR Limited.                  Tel:[phone]



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           The Giant Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium deposit, Saudi Arabia
                      - a future source of raw materials.

                                    ABSTRACT

Tertiary Minerals plc's Ghurayyah Ta-Nb-Zr-U-REE deposit is located in NW Saudi
Arabia close to the Red Sea. An Inferred Mineral Resource of nearly 400 million
tonnes grading 245 grammes/tonne of Ta2O5 and 2,840 grammes/tonne of Nb205 is
defined by drilling of a 900m wide plug of mineralised granite, open at depth.
The deposit exhibits remarkable grade continuity, no internal waste, and can be
extracted by cheap open-pit mining methods. The fine-grained Ta and Nb
containing ore-minerals can be concentrated by flotation with good recoveries
with subsequent magnetic separation of a zircon by-product. A number of
different processing routes have been considered for production of marketable
products, including a Fe-Nb-Ta alloy. A detailed economic and technical scoping
study suggests the deposit has commercial potential as a future source of supply
of Ta, Nb and zircon raw materials and a mine life of over 200 years.
Significant contents of U and REE have yet to be evaluated. The
project-financing regime in Saudi Arabia is very favourable with Government
funding and a new mining code supporting the development of the project if
feasibility studies, now in progress, are positive.

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                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange