SHG.L Regulatory News (SHG)

1 Sep 2005 07:48

Shanta Gold Limited01 September 2005 Shanta Gold Limited Date: 1 September 2005 After the successful admission of Shanta Gold Limited ("Shanta Gold" or "theCompany") to AIM of the London Stock Exchange, the Board has announced that itwill shortly be stepping up its presence in Tanzania, where the Company'sexploration efforts are focused. Shanta Gold currently holds prospecting rightsover a resource base of just under 1Moz, comprising 741,000 oz at Mgusu (ofwhich 127,000 oz are Indicated and 614,000 oz are Inferred) plus approximately185,000 oz Inferred at Ikungu, in what the Board considers to be some of themost highly prospective areas of Tanzania. "In order to lend further capacity to our team of mining and geological expertsin the country, we will be appointing a chief operating officer with therequisite technical expertise in our existing Dar es Salaam office to overseeour exploration efforts in Tanzania, and to increase our profile in thatcountry," commented Walton Imrie, Chairman of the Shanta Gold board. With this development, and to eliminate the duplication of resources, Shantawill close its Johannesburg office with effect from 1 September 2005. GeorgeBennett (Chief Executive Officer) and Walter Vorwerk (Chief Financial Officer)will step down from their current positions at the end of a 3 months' noticeperiod but will remain on the Board as non-executive Directors. "George Bennett, who played an important role in the raising of £4.3 million onAIM at a challenging time for resource stocks, will continue to interact withthe Company's investors." Walter Vorwerk will assume the role of chairman of the audit committee,overseeing and monitoring structures and financial controls. The Companyaccountant, Jean Korsten, will serve as financial manager. Imrie explained that these developments were indicative of Shanta Gold'scommitment to creating cost-efficient structures in support of the Company'sprimary activities in Tanzania. Savings over the next 2 years from the actionsoutlined above are of the order of $400,000, and this money will be spent onadditional exploration activities. The Board believes that, in investors'interests, these changes make the best use of funds raised. Shareholders will be advised of developments as they occur. Drilling In reviewing the exploration programme and taking into account the availabilityof drill rigs the Board plans to commence drilling at the Katario project by theend of September. The programme of 2,000 metres of reverse circulation drillingis expected to be completed within a 2 to 3 months period and should providedata to help delineate the extent of the orebody. On completion of the drilling at Katario the Board intends to implement itsplans for further drilling at Mgusu to attempt to take this 741koz resourceproject to its next stage of development in order to expand its resource base. Ends This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange