AMER.L Regulatory News (AMER)

1 Apr 2005 12:47

Chaco Resources PLC01 April 2005 CHACO RESOURCES PLC ("The Company") Amerisur S.A. receives Presidential Decree The Directors of Chaco Resources plc are pleased to announce that a PresidentialDecree has been issued in favour of its Paraguayan subsidiary, Amerisur S.A.with respect to its applications for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitationconcessions in two significant acreages in Paraguay. The decree states that Amerisur's Concession Contracts meet current legal andeconomic requirements and that the Evaluation Committee has adjudged them to bein order. The decree further approves that the Concession Contracts be submittedfor ratification by the Paraguayan Congress. The two acreages, known as Curupayty and San Pedro, cover a total ofapproximately 2.4 million hectares. In the process of the negotiating therelevant Concession Contracts, Amerisur was advised to reduce its application by70,000 hectares (less than three per cent). This was due to an appeal havingcome through the system with respect to this area. Having evaluated the 70,000hectares in question, Amerisur's geologist concluded that it was not an area ofeither geological or strategic interest and the application was duly reduced toavoid unnecessary delays. (A useful map can be found on page 6 of the Company's Interim FinancialStatement to 30 September 2004*. The acreage given up is at the south easterncorner of the San Pedro prospect, adjacent to the Canindeu prospect) Once the pre-ratification phase of the process is concluded, which is imminent,the Company will be allocating approximately 1.8 million ordinary shares to thevendors of Amerisur, in accordance with the Share Sale Agreement as set out inthe AIM Admission Document*. A further 16.2 million shares will be allocatedonce the congressional ratification takes place. It is hoped the entire processwith respect to Amerisur's prospects will be completed by the end of May / earlyJune 2005. The Company's other Paraguayan subsidiary, Bohemia S.A., is awaiting due processwith respect to a prior claim over a part of its sole application acreage, knownas Canindeu. We are awaiting a precise timetable of these proceedings. The Company will be publishing a quarterly operations report going forward, thefirst of which should be appearing in the next 4 - 5 weeks. (* The Interim Financial Statement and the AIM Admission document can be viewedat, or downloaded from the "Corporate Information" section of our website:www.chacoplc.com) Enquiries: Martin Groak : 07949 209 301 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange