AVM.L Regulatory News (AVM)

AVOCET MINING PLC

POSITIVE DRILLING RESULTS FROM INATA

Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or "the Company") announces further positive drilling results from the on-going drilling campaign at its flagship Inata gold mine in Burkina Faso, with additional updates scheduled to be announced during the third quarter of 2011. Highlights of the results announced today are summarised in the tables attached to this release and include:

Avocet reported drilling results from Inata on 7 February and 24 March 2011 based on 177 reverse circulation ("RC") drill holes (24,162 metres) and 7 RC with diamond tail ("RD") drill holes (1,396 metres). Assays have now been received and validated for an additional 157 RC drill holes (26,154 metres), 36 RD drill holes (8,156 metres) and 18 diamond ("DD") drill holes (6,247 metres) from a total completed programme of 438 RC drill holes (61,245 metres), 92 RD holes (21,066 metres) and 68 DD drill holes (19,035 metres).  Figure 1 shows the location of the most significant intercepts and Tables 1 to 5 list all new significant intercepts. These drill holes have tested mineralisation beneath and along strike from Inata North, Inata Central, Inata South, Minfo and Sayouba as part of a programme targeted at realising the larger scale of the Inata Mineral Resource and doubling of the original Mineral Reserves. The Company has completed an additional 10,017 metres of RC drilling outside of the Inata mine permit on prospects that are contiguous with the mineralised zone at Minfo, including Filio; and a further 12,542 metres of air core drilling on infrastructure sterilisation.

The large volume of significant results received to date from over 100,000 metres of drilling inside the Inata mine permit indicates that the Mineral Resource of 2.12 million ounces announced on 12 April 2011 will continue to expand. The wide zones of higher grade mineralisation at Inata Central and Inata South are particularly encouraging, as these results are significantly better than the previous intercepts that have contributed to the current Mineral Resource.

Avocet embarked on an extensive 200,000 metre drill programme at Inata (and within the Bélahouro region) in late 2010, which has delivered some impressive results to date. At the time of announcing the programme, the Company set a target to "double the reserves" from the original Mineral Reserves at Inata of 944,000 ounces stated by Wega Mining, and has made good progress toward achieving that goal.

The recent labour unrest reported on 13 May 2011 has led to the early termination of drilling prior to the onset of the July to September wet season. This action did not allow for the completion of the drilling programme, which will defer the Company's ability to realise this goal until a further 9,000 metres of deeper drill holes are completed. These drill holes are scheduled to commence in October 2011 along with the remaining 67,000 metres that will complete the initial 200,000 metre drill programme. The balance of this programme will test priority near mine targets.

The Company will report the final batch of results from the current field season's drilling of approximately 30,000 metres once they have been validated, and will report a further updated Mineral Resource in the third quarter of 2011.

Commenting on the latest drilling results from Inata, Brett Richards, Chief Executive Officer for Avocet, stated:

"Inata continues to return significant drilling results that show it is a much larger gold deposit than the current Mineral Resource and Reserve suggest. We are confident of achieving the goal of doubling the Mineral Reserves; however the final resource and reserve upgrade will be delayed due to the early termination of the drilling programme caused by the labour unrest leading up to the wet season. As well, exploration drilling of the regional targets in the next field season will illustrate to us how we look at the Bélahouro region as a whole, in regards to how to we increase our production profile in Burkina Faso over the coming years".

Figure 1.0

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6649I_-2011-6-17.pdf 

The information in this announcement is based on information reviewed and audited by Mr Peter Flindell (MAusIMM), Executive Vice President of Exploration for Avocet. Mr Flindell has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 for the reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (NI 43-101) and as a Competent Person as defined by the Australian JORC Code (2004) for the reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Flindell consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this announcement in the form and context in which it appears.

Notes to Editors

Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or "the Company") is a gold mining company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (Ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (Ticker: AVM.OL). The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in Burkina Faso (as 90 per cent owner of the Inata gold mine), Malaysia (as 100 per cent owner of the Penjom gold mine, the country's largest gold producer) and Indonesia (as 80 per cent owner of the North Lanut gold mine and Bakan project in North Sulawesi).

In December 2010 Avocet announced that it had signed a binding agreement for the conditional sale of its South East Asian assets to J&Partners L.P, a private company, for US$200 million. The transaction with J&Partners will leave Avocet as a West African gold producer with a clear strategy for growth in that region. Further details can be found in the press release dated 24 December 2010 and in the Company's preliminary results statement for 2010, dated 22 February 2011.

Background to operations

The Inata deposit presently comprises a Mineral Resource of 2.12 million ounces and a Mineral Reserve of 1.08 million ounces. Inata poured its first gold in December 2009 and has now reached a production rate in excess of 13,500 ounces per month. Other assets in West Africa include exploration permits in Burkina Faso (the most advanced being the Souma trend at Bélahouro, some 20 kilometres from Inata,with a Mineral Resource of 561,100 ounces), Guinea and Mali (the most advanced being the Tri-K gold exploration project in Guinea with a Mineral Resource of 1.10 million ounces).

Penjom is Malaysia's largest gold mine and was developed by Avocet in an area of historic alluvial mining. The mine is located in Pahang State, approximately 120 km north of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

North Lanut in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, was developed by Avocet from the exploration stage. The mine is located within a Contract of Work, which includes exploration and mining rights over approximately 50,000 hectares in an area highly prospective for gold. Avocet holds an 80 per cent interest and an Indonesian company, PT Lebong Tandai, owns the remaining 20 per cent.

TABLE 1 - SUMMARY OF DRILLHOLE INTERCEPTS AT INATA NORTH EXTENSION & SAYOUBA

Notes: Individual gold assays have a top cut of 30 g/t Au and a lower cut of 0.5 g/t Au for intercept calculations

Maximum internal waste allowed is 2m and minimum mineralised interval is 1m

All holes are drilled from surface using conventional reverse circulation drilling techniques and triple tube wireline diamond drilling techniques drilled by Boart Longyear & West African Drilling Services

All samples have been prepared and analysed by SGS Laboratories in Ouagadougo, Burkina Faso and Intertek Testing Services in Tarkwa, Ghana

Gold has been analysed by fire assay using a 50 gram charge

All sample batches have passed Avocet's QAQC protocols

TABLE 2 - SUMMARY OF DRILLHOLE INTERCEPTS AT INATA NORTH