Marakand Update

12 Mar 2007 07:35

Marakand Minerals Limited12 March 2007 For Release 12 March 2007 MARAKAND UPDATE Marakand Minerals Limited ('Marakand', or the 'Company') (MKD.L), the Eurasianbase metal and silver company, has been advised by its parent company and 86%shareholder, Oxus Gold plc ("Oxus") (OXS.L), that Oxus has agreed in principleand subject to final contract, to sell certain assets to KazakhGold GroupLimited ("KazakhGold") (KZG.L), including certain exploration assets in Turkey,currently owned by Marakand. The Board of Directors of Marakand confirm that any agreement between Oxus andKazakhGold in respect of the sale of such Marakand assets will require Marakandboard approval and, in addition, any such sale will be subject to thedetermination of an appropriate fair market value to be paid to Marakand by Oxusfor these assets. Marakand shareholders will be kept informed of anydevelopments. As announced in on 1 August 2006, Marakand entered into exclusive optionagreements to acquire majority interests in two separate copper / goldexploration license areas in southern Turkey, namely the Hatay explorationlicense and the Karakilise exploration license. Both license areas are locatedin the prospective southern Turkish 'ophiolite belt' related to the Cyprus Arc,and host 'Cyprus-type' copper / gold mineralisation. Exploration works,including surface drilling, have previously been undertaken on both licenseareas. In February 2007, Marakand completed a further programme of stream sedimentsampling, geological mapping, surface channel sampling and a 10 hole surfacedrilling programme on the Hatay license. Marakand has dispatched channel anddrill core samples to an independent laboratory for analysis, and will bereporting results as soon as they are available and evaluated Contacts:Marakand Minerals LimitedWilliam Charter, Director Tel: + 998 93 180 8368Julia Flowers, Investor Relations Officer Tel: +44 (0)20 7907 2000 Canaccord Adams LimitedRobin Birchall Tel: +44 (0) 20 7050 6500 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange