Oxus Gold Plc Regulatory News (OXS)

6 May 2008 07:02

Oxus Gold PLC06 May 2008 OXUS GOLD PLC Arbitration with Kyrgyz Republic suspended pending withdrawal of claim LONDON: 6 May 2008 - Oxus Gold plc ('Oxus' or the 'Company') (OXS.L) announcesthat it has reached agreement to settle its claim in arbitration against theKyrgyz Republic under the United Kingdom - Kyrgyz Republic Bilateral InvestmentTreaty (the 'Arbitral Claim'). The Arbitral Claim has been suspended pending an agreed cash settlement to bemade on or before 15 May 2008 (the "Settlement"). Upon receipt of theSettlement, the Arbitral Claim will be withdrawn. Oxus has been seeking to recover its loss of profits arising from thecancellation of the mining license for the Jerooy gold project in the KyrgyzRepublic, less the amount Oxus has already received in mitigation as a result ofthe sale in May 2007 of Norox Mining Company Limited and other assets toKazakhGold Group Limited ('KazakhGold') in exchange for shares in KazakhGoldvalued at approximately $73 million. Oxus has retained its rights to the potential deferred consideration of up to$80 million payable by KazakhGold in the event that KazakhGold or a nomineeacquires, or acquires the benefit of, a license to enable it to continue withthe development of the Jerooy gold project. Richard Wilkins, CEO of Oxus, stated "I am very satisfied that this matter hasnow been dealt with. This arbitration represented the last of the various costlylitigations that have distracted Oxus in recent years. The transaction withKazakhGold recovered our expenditure on Jerooy, and this settlement generatesadditional recovery. We avoid the prospect of a long drawn-out claim, and wehave retained the potential upside of the deferred consideration if KazakhGoldwere to become involved in the development of the Jerooy project. Thissettlement will further enhance our ability to focus on the development of ourunderground mine at Amantaytau Goldfields in Uzbekistan, which asset without anydoubt represents the future of our Company." OXUS GOLD PLC Tel: +44 (0) 207 907 2000 Jonathan Kipps - Finance DirectorRichard Wilkins - Chief Executive Officer CANACCORD ADAMS LIMITED Tel: +44 (0) 207 050 6500 Mike JonesRobin Birchall BANKSIDE CONSULTANTS Tel: +44 (0) 207 367 8888 Keith IronsOliver Winters This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange