RNS Number:3277Q
Portman Ld
30 September 2003

                                                  Portman
                                                  Limited

                                                  ACN 007 871 892
                                                  ABN 22 007 871 892

30 September 2003

                                                  Level 11
                                                  The Quadrant
                                                  1 William Street
                                                  Perth,  6000
                                                  Western Australia
                                                  GPO Box W2017
                                                  Perth, 6001
                                                  Tel:   61 8 9426 3333
                                                  Fax:   61 8 9426 3344



MEDIA RELEASE



                         PORTMAN APPROVES $20.3 MILLION

                        KOOLYANOBBING EXPANSION PROJECT



Portman Limited (ASX: PMM) is set to commence construction works for the
expansion of its Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Project in Western Australia within
weeks after today announcing formal Board approval for the $20.3 million
development of the new Northern Tenement mining areas at Windarling and Mt
Jackson.



The Perth-based iron ore producer said the budgeted capital expenditure would be
staged over the next 6 months, with the majority to be spent in the current half
year. The largest items are haul road construction and development of a new
accommodation camp and services at Windarling.



The new mining areas are located some 100 kilometres north of Portman's current
mining operations at Koolyanobbing. Ore mined from the new areas will be trucked
to the existing processing plant for blending with existing output to extend the
life of the Koolyanobbing Project and potentially increase annual production.



Portman's Managing Director, Mr Barry Eldridge, said: "We are delighted that our
management team can finally move forward with the Koolyanobbing Expansion
Project following such a difficult and lengthy approvals process."



"I would like to pay tribute to our team for their persistence and positive
approach throughout the past two years - which has been an extremely trying and
difficult period for the Company," he added.



Portman cleared the final regulatory hurdle for the expansion project earlier
this month with the announcement of Federal Environmental approval. State
Government environmental approvals were announced on 1 April 2003.



Mr Eldridge said construction of the haul road and mine pre-development would
begin as soon as Portman had complied with all State and Commonwealth
ministerial conditions. "This process is very advanced and we expect that
construction will commence within a matter of weeks," he said. "On this basis,
we would anticipate that first ore from the Northern Tenements will be produced
around March 2004."



Mr Eldridge added that Portman was currently well advanced in completing its
resource drilling and evaluation program, which is required to upgrade the
Northern Tenements' resource position to reserve status by early next year.
Resource drilling commenced in August and will continue until November, leading
to finalisation of mine optimisation studies by December 2003.



"It is clear that, because of the lengthy approvals process for the Northern
Tenements development, some of these resources will now not be converted into
reserves because of the loss of blending ores at Koolyanobbing over the past two
years," Mr Eldridge said.



"The establishment of a base reserve position for the Northern Tenements is a
key priority for the Company in order for us to further build our resource
inventory for the life of the project and determine the optimum long-term
production level," he said.



Koolyanobbing is expected to produce over 4.8 million tonnes of ore for 2003
with a sales estimate in excess of 5 million tonnes. This will be the base
production rate for the expanded operation, with the optimum long-term
production rate to be determined following the results of current drilling
programs and mine optimisation studies.



A further increase in the long-term production rate above 5.2 million tonnes per
annum will require a further capital investment currently estimated at $15
million.



The $20.3 million capital expenditure for the Koolyanobbing Expansion Project
will be funded from internal resources. At 30 June 2003, Portman's net cash
balance was over $63 million.

                                    - ENDS -

Released by:                                On behalf of:
Jan Hope / Nicholas Read                    Mr Barry Eldridge
Jan Hope & Partners                         Managing Director
Telephone: (+61-8) 9388-1474                Portman Limited
                                            Telephone: (+61-8) 9426-3333



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

MSCWUUWPBUPWUCU