Altyngold Regulatory News (ALTN)

1 May 2008 12:00

Hambledon Mining PLC01 May 2008 HAMBLEDON MINING PLC (AIM: HMB) Sekisovskoye Fully Operational Hambledon Mining plc ("Hambledon" or the "Group" or the "Company"), theAIM-listed gold mining and processing company operating in Kazakhstan, ispleased to report that Sekisovskoye is now producing gold. Since the resumption of operations last week, 26.7 kilogrammes of dore have beenpoured at Sekisovskoye. Following assaying, the dore, together with about 6kilogrammes that had been poured previously, will be shipped to Almaty and fromthere to Europe for refining and sale. Following an inspection of the mine and process plant by a government committeecomprised of the various environmental, safety, design and other departmentsinvolved, official approval of completion has been granted. This means that theformal commissioning period is now over and regular production has commenced. Nick Bridgen, Chief Executive of Hambledon, said: "I would like to thank the team at Sekisovskoye for having done a magnificentjob in getting the plant back up and running and approved by the authorities." 1 May 2008 Enquiries Hambledon Mining plc Telephone: +44 7791 327 180Nick Bridgen Bankside Consultants Telephone: +44 20 7367 8888Michael Padley / Louise Davis Seymour Pierce Telephone: +44 20 7107 8000Nicola Marrin Note to editors Hambledon Mining plc is an AIM-listed gold mining and exploration company, whichis operating the Sekisovskoye gold mine and the Ognevka processing plant, bothof which are close to Ust Kamenogorsk in East Kazakhstan. At Sekisovskoye, the Company is mining from an open pit and has constructed an850,000 tonnes per year treatment plant. Production from the open pit willaverage over 40,000 ounces per annum. As soon as steady production has beenachieved, the Company plans to develop the much larger underground resource thatis expected to lead to a combined production rate of around 100,000 ounces peryear. The Ognevka processing plant is producing concentrates containing gold, silver,copper, iron and coke from the re-treatment of zinc smelter residues. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange