Offer from Oxus Gold plc

20 Dec 2007 12:00

Marakand Minerals Limited20 December 2007 MARAKAND MINERALS LIMITED For IMMEDIATE release - 20 December 2007 Offer from Oxus Gold plc LONDON: 20 December 2007 - Marakand Minerals Limited ("Marakand" or the"Company") (MKD.L) is pleased to report that Oxus Gold plc ("Oxus") hascompleted the acquisition of the remaining ordinary shares of Marakand. Prior to this Oxus owned 84.04% of the issued shares of Marakand and itsacquisition of the remaining shares on the basis of 0.135 new Oxus share foreach Marakand share will result in a total of 2,221,621 new ordinary Oxus sharesof 1p each ("New Shares") being issued to Marakand shareholders. Oxus will issue New Shares directly to those Marakand shareholders who completedand returned their acceptance form and transfer documents (or CREST transferinstruction as the case may be) by 10 December 2007 as requested in theacceptance notice sent to all Marakand shareholders. Oxus will issue New Shares to Marakand on trust for those Marakand shareholderswho have not returned their acceptance forms and/or transfer documents (or CRESTtransfer instructions as the case may be). These shareholders should contactCapita Registrars, as registrars for Marakand, to establish what action theyneed to take to claim their New Shares. Application has been made for the New Shares to be admitted to trading on theAIM Market of the London Stock Exchange plc and dealings in the New Shares areexpected to commence on 21 December 2007. The New Shares will rank pari passuwith existing ordinary shares. Following the allotment of the New Shares, Marakand will be wholly-owned by Oxusand Oxus's issued share capital will be 367,654,127 ordinary shares of 1p each. Contacts: Oxus Gold plc Richard Wilkins Tel: +44 (0)20 7907 2000 Canaccord Adams Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 7050 6500 Erin Needra/Mike Jones Bankside Consultants Ltd. Keith Irons/Oliver Winters Tel: +44 (0)20 7367 8873 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange