Shearwater Regulatory News (SWG)

8 May 2006 11:37

Aurum Mining PLC08 May 2006 For immediate release 8 May 2006 AURUM MINING PLC ("Aurum" or "the Company") Placing to raise £2.5 million Aurum Mining plc (AIM: AUR), the company formed to acquire gold and othermineral extraction projects in the Former Soviet Union (FSU), announces that2,777,778 new ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the share capital of theCompany (the "Placing Shares") have been placed by Arbuthnot Securities Limitedwith institutional investors at a price of 90 pence per share to raiseapproximately £2.5 million before expenses (the "Placing"). The Placing Sharesrepresent approximately 22.5 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital ofthe Company. The net proceeds of the Placing will be used primarily for working capitalpurposes in order to complete the engineering design work required to completethe feasibility study and conduct further drilling on exploration zones 2 and 3at the Company's Andash Project. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares tobe admitted to trading on AIM. The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with theexisting issued ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the share capital of theCompany (the "Ordinary Shares"). The Placing is conditional, inter alia, on theadmission of the Placing Shares to AIM becoming effective ("Admission"), whichis expected to occur on 12 May 2006, when dealings in the Placing Shares areexpected to commence. Following Admission, the Company will have 12,365,468Ordinary Shares in issue. On 31 January 2005, a waiver was granted by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergersfrom the obligation of the Concert Party (as set out in the admission documentsent to shareholders on 13 January 2005) to make an offer to all shareholders ofthe Company pursuant to Rule 9 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers. Thiswaiver related to the potential allotment of up to 3,100,000 new ordinary sharespursuant to the acquisition of Kaldora Company Limited and options over afurther 1,000,000 Ordinary Shares granted to members of that Concert Party asset out in the admission document. As a result of the Placing set out above, thepercentage holding of the Concert Party upon Admission will be reduced to 23.25per cent. and the potential shareholding of the Concert Party as a result of theissue of shares and exercise of options for which the waiver has been obtainedwould be up to 40.18 per cent. Mark Jones, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are delighted with thesuccess of the Placing, which will allow us to complete our feasibility study atAndash. We welcome our new institutional shareholders and thank our existingshareholders for their continued support." For further information: Aurum Mining plc Tel: 020 7478 9050 Mark Jones, Chief Executive Arbuthnot Securities Tel: 020 7012 2000 Graham Swindells Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000 Mark Court Notes to editors Aurum Mining joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2004 withthe strategy of seeking, evaluating and acquiring gold and other mineralextraction projects in the Former Soviet Union (FSU). In January 2005 theCompany completed its first acquisition, giving the Company an explorationlicence over the Andash gold and copper project in the Kyrgyz Republic. In itsState Register, the State Commission of Resources of the Kyrgyz Republic hasincluded 21.7 million tonnes of C1 and C2 reserves from the project, amountingto gold and gold equivalent of more than 1.5 million ozs. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange