Taruga Minerals Limited announce that provisional metallurgical studies on the DStrat stratigraphic unit demonstrate concentrate grades of 4.1% Co to 12.6% Co and cobalt recoveries between 59% and 70% from the Kamilombe Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"). Six metallurgical samples of roughly 12kg each, collected from artisanal workings, were submitted to ALS Metallurgy in Perth, WA for metallurgical studies. Samples represented the RSC, RSF and DStrat mineralised stratigraphic units. Initial studies focused on the identification of a simple beneficiation technique to recover cobalt concentrates from the DStrat unit only, as it occurs as highly friable sandy material and would therefore not require crushing, thus reducing processing costs. The DStrat unit is typically 2-3m thick, shallow dipping and lies near surface over a strike length of roughly 500m. The two samples used were collected roughly 150m apart. All samples were split and head assays were conducted. The main mineral assays from the DStrat samples ranged from 0.7% to 1.4% Co and 0.08% to 0.15% Cu. Mineralogy work identified heterogenite as the main cobalt mineral, which was relatively clean in one sample but contained varying amounts of Cu, Fe, Mn, V, Al and silica in the second sample. Size assay testing on the clean sample demonstrated that best cobalt grades were obtained by rejecting the finer than 850 micron which resulted in an upgrade of 3.5% Co to 30% of the original mass and recovery of 70% of the cobalt. The clean sample also responded well to HLS (Heavy Liquid Separation) and should respond well to gravity separation techniques. The second sample had a predominance of Co in the very fine fractions and possibly explains why its response to HLS was poor. Shaking table testwork was conducted on a combination of both samples and demonstrated cobalt recovery of 59% and a resultant concentrate grade of 4.1% Co. Magnetic susceptibility testing suggested magnetic separation is not an effective beneficiation process due to the highly oxidised nature of the material which lacks magnetic minerals. The testwork has provided early indications of how the orebody may be processed to maximise economic returns from an early, shallow mining operation. Taruga is hopeful that a simple flowsheet and an economical processing facility can be confirmed in more detailed future testwork on exploration drill core. The Company continues to work with its partners within the DRC on progressing new license agreements for Kamilombe and Mwilu. Fortunately, the Presidential elections were conducted relatively peacefully in the DRC, with the opposition President sworn in on 24 January 2019. Management is confident that the issuing of the new licenses will take place within the month.