The following statement has been released by Oxus Gold and is issued in London by Bankside Consultants on behalf of the Company.

Raises £8 million to finance gold and base metal mines in Central Asia

LONDON: Friday, 29 June 2001 - Oxus Gold ("Oxus" or "the Company"), the UK-based mining group with interests in Central Asia, completed its placing today, having successfully raised £8 million.

Oxus is the first UK company with its primary interests in Uzbekistan to float on a London stock exchange. Application has been made for Oxus' shares to be admitted to AIM and trading on AIM will commence on 4 July. A total of 26.6 million shares have been placed with institutions at 30p a share, giving Oxus a market capitalisation of around £37 million.

The Oxus group currently has three major projects in advanced stages of development. Amantaytau and Jerooy are gold projects in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan respectively and Khandiza is a zinc-copper-lead and silver project, also in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan straddles the "Silk Route" to China and is famed for its "Golden City" of Samarkand, the capital of the mogul Emperor, Tamburlaine the Great.

The Group's most advanced project is Amantaytau Goldfields, which is ready for construction subject to arranging project finance, and Khandiza is in the early stages of a feasibility study. The Amantaytau and Jerooy projects alone give Oxus attributable precious metal mineable reserves of 2.85 million ounces of gold and 4.6 million ounces of silver.

The three projects together have combined attributable reserves of 2.9 million ounces of gold, 29.6 million ounces of silver, 433,000 tonnes of zinc, 50,000 tonnes of copper and 173,000 tonnes of lead. The attributable resources associated with these projects include 5.4 million ounces of gold, 48.2 million ounces of silver, 705,000 tonnes of zinc, 81,000 tonnes of copper and 286,000 tonnes of lead. Within a total area of 6,500 square kilometres covered by exploration licences awarded to Oxus, there is an estimated additional resource of 4.5 million ounces of gold and 73.5 million ounces of silver.

Amantaytau Goldfields is located in the "Tien Shan Gold Belt" in central Uzbekistan close to the giant state-owned Muruntau gold mine, which has already produced more than 45 million ounces of gold, and a heap-leach gold project operated by Newmont Mining of the USA in a joint venture with the Uzbekistan government. Oxus manages a 50/50 joint venture in the Amantaytau project with government and current plans are focused on developing three of the 18 known deposits. The property is already served with all necessary infrastructure, including roads, rail, power and water supplies.

Initial development is based on mining near-surface oxide deposits and heap-leach gold recovery from a series of open pits at around 1 million tonnes of ore a year over nine years. Capital costs are estimated at US$35 million to be funded partly by equity and partly by project finance. The feasibility study shows an estimated cash operating cost of $113 an ounce. At a gold price of $265 per ounce Oxus has an internal rate of return, after tax and ungeared, of 26.4% and 19.9% at $245 per ounce. Gold production is planned for the second half of 2002 with first full year output expected to be around 170,000 ounces of gold.

The second phase of the Amantaytau project is focused on the development of underground operations that are currently scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2005. The average annual production is expected to be about 190,000 ounces of gold a year over a 10-year mine life at an average cash cost of $115 an ounce. Total output from the combined open pit and underground operations is expected to be more than 2.6 million ounces of gold and 6.6 million ounces of silver over the 14-year mine life.

The Khandiza zinc project is located in south-east Uzbekistan. Oxus expects to start development at Khandiza in 2003/4 with a projected mine life of at least 10 years. The Khandiza deposit has proven and probable mineable reserves of 9.7 million tonnes containing 8.9% zinc, 3.6% lead, 1.0% copper, 161 grammes (5.2 ounces) per tonne silver and 0.4 grammes per tonne gold. Measured and indicated resources at Khandiza are 24 million tonnes with 5.9% zinc, 2.4% lead, 0.7% copper, 106 grammes per tonne silver and 0.3 grammes per tonne gold.

The Jerooy gold project is located in north-west Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan's neighbour to the east. It is 66.7% owned by Oxus. A preliminary feasibility study has been completed. At Jerooy Oxus has attributable reserves of 1.35 million ounces and attributable resources of 3.27 million ounces of gold.

In addition Oxus has other gold and base metal exploration projects in a 6,192 square kilometre licence area in the region, which currently contains an estimated seven million ounces of attributable resources. The new funds raised will be applied to the further development of Amantaytau and Khandiza and to increase the Company's reserve and resource base. The Company's longer-term goals are to build a major mining group through the acquisition and development of mineral projects in the region.

The Oxus Group is led by Chief Executive Roger Turner, who has more than 35 years of mining experience, and Richard Wilkins (Commercial Director), with extensive experience in Central Asia. Other directors are Charles Arthur Cooper (Non-executive Chairman), Michael de Villiers (Finance Director), Guido Pas, Anthony Warrender and Mark Wellesley-Wood (non-executive directors). The Group has a team of qualified geologists, mining, metallurgical and civil engineers based in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan who are supported by regional offices in Tashkent and Bishkek.

END

This statement has been approved by Old Mutual Securities, a division of Old Mutual Securities Limited, solely for the purposes of Section 57 of the Financial Services Act 1986. Old Mutual Securities Limited is regulated by the Securities and Futures Authority for the conduct of investment business. Copies of the AIM listing document, when published, can be obtained from Old Mutual Securities at Old Mutual Place, 2 Lambeth Hill, London EC4V 4GG.

Contacts:

Old Mutual Securities, London
Rod Venables
Tel: +44 (0)20 7002 4600

Oxus Gold
Roger Turner, CEO
Tel: +44 (0)1483 714 411

Oxus Gold
Richard Wilkins, Executive Director
Tel: +44 (0)1483 714 411

Bankside Consultants, London
Keith Irons
Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 7477