ACQUISITION — Eramet to pay $270M for Weda Bay

PARIS and TORONTO -- The French mining company ERAMET has agreed to purchase all outstanding common shares of Toronto's WEDA BAY MINERALS. The deal is worth $270 million, or $2.70/share. More accurately, Eramet is buying Weda Bay's Halmahera laterite project in Indonesia.

The Halmahera project could be developed with an annual production of 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in sulphides. Weda Bay has conducted pre-feasibility and scoping studies with the intention of using a pressure acid leach for limonite ore and an atmospheric acid leach for saprolite material. The project would include an open pit mine, processing plant, tailings management system, power plant, wharf, limestone quarry, water system, and accommodations. The next step toward development will be preparing a bankable feasibility study.

The 2004 mineral resource estimate for Halmahera is available on the Weda Bay website, www.WedaBay.com.