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

Potential 650,000 ounce increase in gold resources

LONDON: 13 July, 2001- Oxus Gold, ("Oxus" or "the Company") (OXS.L) the British mining group with interests in Central Asia, has acquired exploration rights to another two highly-prospective gold licenses close to its Amantaytau Goldfields project, in the Kyzylkum Region of Uzbekistan.

Oxus has signed an agreement with the State Committee of Geology of Uzbekistan, for two exploration licenses around the Balpantau and Aristantau deposits. Exploration on these areas will be carried out with the intention of increasing the existing heap-leaching mineable reserves at Amantaytau Goldfields.

Both deposits are located close to the Muruntau gold mining complex, which has already produced more than 45 million ounces of gold, and is currently operating at a rate of approximately 1.7 million ounces of gold per year. This mine is operated by Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat. Newmont Mining of the USA also operates a heap-leach gold project at Muruntau in a joint venture with the Uzbekistan government.

Oxus carried out a preliminary assessment of these two areas in 1997, and together with Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited, Consulting Geologists and Engineers, of Toronto, Canada, reviewed the resource and exploration potential. Oxus now plans to carry out a detailed drilling programme on the two properties to increase the mineable reserves for the nearby Amantaytau heap leach project.

The Balpantau deposit is the most explored area within the 260 square kilometre Tamdytau licence. Estimates based on previous exploration work suggest this deposit contains 5.99 million tonnes of resource at an average grade of 2.33g/t gold (about 450,000 ounces contained gold). More recent exploration has identified a northern extension to the deposit, which Oxus believes should significantly increase the above resource estimate. Also within the Tamdytau licence are a number of other gold anomalies, which require further investigation.

The other deposit, Aristantau, is in the southern part of the Ayirak licence. It is estimated that this deposit contains 2.85 million tonnes of resource at an average grade of 2.38 g/t gold (about 220,000 ounces contained gold).

Balpantau and Aristantau are within 50 kilometres of Oxus's most advanced project, Amantaytau Goldfields, which already has attributable gold and silver mineable reserves of 1.5 million ounces of gold and 4.6 million ounces of silver, and attributable resources of 6.5 million ounces of gold and 81 million ounces of silver. A 1 million tonne a year open pit heap leach operation is ready for construction subject to project finance. Capital costs are estimated at US$35 million and 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%. Start-up is planned for the second half of 2002 with first full year production expected to be around 170,000 ounces of gold.

The second phase of the Amantaytau project is the development of an underground operation that is scheduled to start production in the first quarter of 2005. The average annual production is expected to be 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.

In addition to Amantaytau, Oxus has two other major projects in advanced stages of development. Jerooy is a gold project in Kyrgyzstan and Khandiza is a zinc-copper-lead and silver project in Uzbekistan. These projects, together with Amantaytau, have combined reserves, attributable to Oxus, 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, excluding the two new license areas, are 9.9 million ounces of gold, 121 million ounces of silver, 705,000 tonnes of zinc, 81,000 tonnes of copper and 286,000 tonnes of lead. The exploration potential on some 7,000 square kilometers of licenses is considered excellent.

END

Contacts:

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

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

Oxus Gold
Michael de Villiers, Finance Director
Tel: +44 (0)1483 714 411

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

Website: www.oxusminingplc.com