Issue of Options

31 Dec 2007 07:00

EMED Mining Public Limited31 December 2007 AIM: EMED 31 December 07 EMED Mining Public Limited Issue of Incentive Options Over Unissued Ordinary Shares EMED Mining Public Limited ("EMED Mining" or "the Company") announces that itsRemuneration Committee has today awarded an additional 4,865,000 options topurchase new ordinary shares of par value 0.25 pence each in the capital of theCompany, exercisable at a price of 22 pence per share to Directors and staffunder the incentive options scheme previously approved by shareholders. This isat a 21% premium over the average share price in the 5 trading days before theBoard resolution on 28 December 2007. The options have been awarded as at 31 December 2007 and have been issued toincentivise and retain key management and directors at this time of severeglobal skills shortages throughout the mining industry and having noted thatsalary levels have to date remained the same since Company formation. Of the new options issued 2,200,000 have been issued to Directors and 2,665,000issued to personnel. The options to Directors have been allocated as follows -Managing Director - 1,000,000; Chairman - 400,000, Finance Director - 400,000and Non Executive Directors - 200,000 each. The options expire after six years and are exercisable as to one-thirdimmediately, one-third after 12 months and one third after 24 months. The Company now has on issue a total of 36,044,864 unexercised options over newordinary shares of par value 0.25 pence each in the capital of the Company ofwhich 29,669,334 have been issued under the incentive options scheme. Thisrepresents 16.1% of the fully-diluted share capital. -Ends- EnquiriesEMED Mining RFC Corporate FinanceHarry Anagnostaras-Adams Stuart Laing+357 9945 7843 +61 8 9480 2500 Fox-Davies Capital Parkgreen CommunicationsRichard Hail Justine Howarth / Erica Nelson+44 207 936 5220 +44 20 7851 7480 Notes to Editors: About EMED Mining Public Limited EMED Mining was admitted to trading on AIM in May 2005 following a placing ofits shares. In the two years since then the share price has increased from 8p tothe current 21.75p and market capitalisation has increased from approximately £4million to approximately £32 million. The Company is based in Cyprus and has astrong commitment to responsible development of metal production operations inEurope, with an initial focus on copper and gold. The Company's rapid growth reflects the experience of its specialist team andthe clarity of its strategy. The Group's region of interest are the tectonic belts spanning across Europe andover to the Middle East. The strategy is to evaluate exploration and developmentopportunities in several jurisdictions throughout this quality mineral belt andto promote sustainable development practices through implementation of EuropeanUnion and other leading-edge international standards. The Company has, from theoutset, strictly implemented its Environmental & Community Policy whichincludes: • Integrating environmental management into our business, planning andreporting processes. • Promoting a strong environmental ethic throughout the company and thecommunity. • Complying with, as a minimum, all applicable local and European Unionlaws and regulations. • Communicating with community stakeholders in a responsible andtransparent manner. In the framework of our community relations policy, EMED Mining co-hostedinternational conference on Responsible Mining and Environmental Protection inCyprus in 2006 and in Slovakia in 2007. A similar conference will be arranged inSpain in 2008 after other relevant stakeholders are consulted. EMED Mining has now established a strong position in the following selectedzones: • Exploration areas in Slovakia are centred on a cluster of volcaniccentres. Low-detection geochemical methods are being applied to these areas forthe first time together with open pit bulk mining concepts. The principaltargeted mineralisation style is low-grade, bulk-mineable porphyry gold. Thecompany has announced a gold discovery at Biely Vrch in Slovakia. • The mines in Cyprus and at Rio Tinto in Spain, located in the Iberianpyrite belt, are probably amongst the best known in the world. EMED Mining'sgoal is to restart copper production at its projects in both of thesewell-endowed, historical mining districts. Both Spain and Cyprus are progressivemembers of the European Union and EMED Mining has been made to feel welcome inboth host countries. The styles of mineral deposits and production techniquesare similar in both mining districts. • EMED Mining's main prospects in Georgia are gold prospects within theUpper Racha Licence, the country's largest minerals licence with many untestedprospects. The Company has confirmed Russian Resources of 1.0 million ouncesgold at the Zopkhito Prospect and discovered high grade mineralisation atsurface at other prospects (detailed in 2006 Annual Report). • Exploration areas in Turkey were vended into 34%-owned KEFI MineralsPlc which was admitted to AIM in December 2006. KEFI Minerals owns carefullyselected licence areas in Turkey, as well as an extensive proprietary databaseof regional and specific exploration data providing a pipeline of furtherprojects to evaluate. The KEFI Minerals team has mobilized into the field toexplore the company's tenements and to expand the portfolio of licenses asopportunities warrant. See www.kefi-minerals.com. For further information on the Company's activities, visit www.emed-mining.comor www.emed.tv. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange