March 3, 2010

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JOGMEC Signs Memorandum of Agreement for Rare Earth in Canada

Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (“JOGMEC”, President: Hirobumi Kawano) is
pleased to announce that it has entered into a memorandum of agreement for Rare Earth Elements in
the Ytterby region, Canada, as of February 23, 2010, with Midland Exploration Inc., a Canadianexploration company.
The Ytterby region straddles the border between Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador ineastern Canada and is considered to have a high potential for Rare Earth Elements as the Strange
Lake deposit rich in Heavy Rare Earth Elements exists nearby.
Heavy Rare Earth Elements are imported mostly from China, which makes diversity in sources of thesupplies urgently needed in Japan. Thus exploration in the Ytterby region is highly expected toidentify and discover new Rare Earth deposits that surely contribute to the diversification in supply
sources of Heavy Rare Earth Elements.

■ Outline of the Project１） Exploration Area
The Ytterby region consists of 4 properties, out of which one property is situated in Quebec, northeastern
Canada, one in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 2 on the border of both provinces. The property in Quebec lies
next to the Strange Lake deposit which is abundant in Heavy Rare Earth Elements.

２） Midland Exploration Inc.
It is an exploration entity based in Quebec, Canada, exploring for gold, uranium and rare metals mainly inQuebec.

３） Agreement
JOGMEC earns a 50% interest of the project by spending C$2.7million expenditure over 3 years. JOGMEC cantake products in proportion to the interest and have the right of first refusal on the other party’s share of theproducts.

（References）■ Strange Lake Deposit
It is a world-class Rare Earth deposit full of Heavy Rare Earth Elements located on the border of Quebec, andNewfoundland and Labrador in eastern Canada with its Rare Earth reserves 52million tons at an average of 1.3%
(as of 1983). At present, it is owned by Quest Uranium, a Canadian exploration company, which has been
conducting active exploration work aiming at its development. From 1993 through 1995, the former Metal Mining
Agency of Japan, now part of JOGMEC, developed a technology to recover rare earth effectively from mineralores found at the Strange Lake deposit as part of a technology development project concerningsuperconductivity materials for generators implemented commissioned by the then Ministry of International
Trade and Industry.

■ Heavy Rare Earth Elements
Out of Rare Earth Elements, a collection of 17 elements ranging from scandium (the atomic number 21), yttrium(39) and lanthanide (57) to lutetium (71), elements from gadolinium (64) to lutetium (71) are called Heavy Rare
Earth Elements.
Dysprosium (66), a Heavy Rare Earth Element, is indispensable to improve the thermal property of neodymium
magnets, the strongest of all permanent magnets.

Greenland

BritishColumbia

Newfoundland andLabrador

Ytterby region

VancouverQuebecOntario
Montreal

Tronto