Société Générale to provide $27 million primary debt facility Insurance guarantee to underwrite $10 million of subordinated debt

Oxus Gold ("Oxus") (OXS.L) is pleased to announce that it has obtained commitments for $37 million of primary and subordinated debt, which represent the majority of the $42.5 million required to finance the construction of Phase I of its Amantaytau Goldfields ("AGF") project in Uzbekistan.

Details of the financing are as follows:

-Oxus has signed a commitment letter with Société Générale in respect of an underwritten facility for $31 million, which consists of a primary loan of $27 million plus a project cost overrun facility of $4 million. The facility is subject to certain legal and financial conditions precedent, including the raising of $16.5 million to complete the $42.5 million construction financing requirement, inclusive of an additional $1 million of cost overrun facility. The facility is expected to be available for drawdown during June 2002.

-Oxus has paid a commitment fee of £115,000 to obtain an insurance guarantee which will be used to underwrite a minimum of $10 million of credit enhanced subordinated debt. This sum will form part of the $16.5 million.

-Oxus has engaged its broker, Brown Shipley Securities, to undertake an equity fundraising exercise to secure the balance of the required $16.5 million for the construction financing, plus additional exploration and working capital. Existing shareholders will be given the opportunity to participate in this fundraising, which will be announced in due course.

All aspects of AGF Phase I have been audited by SRK Consulting Engineers in Denver for Société Générale. Based on detailed engineering and firm quotations for the mining and processing equipment, the total pre-production capital cost of the project is now estimated at $42.5 million, including financing costs and working capital. AGF Phase I will take 10 months to construct and first gold production is thus expected in the first quarter of 2003. First full year production is expected to be 170,000 ounces of gold.

Due to the growing resource base at Amantaytau, Oxus plans a drilling programme to upgrade resources to mineable reserves and expand Phase I above the currently planned 1 million tonne per annum operation. The process plant, as designed and budgeted, is capable of handling 2 million tonnes per annum.

Oxus has increased its resource base for the entire Amantaytau project, the full details of which are the subject of a separate press release issued simultaneously.

Roger Turner, Chief Executive of Oxus Gold, said today: "Oxus is very pleased to have secured a major part of the financing required to construct the first phase open pit gold mine at Amantaytau. Throughout this process, our intention had been to keep shareholder dilution to a minimum, although it has ultimately proved necessary for a small amount of new equity to be issued.

"However, once Oxus has Amantaytau in production, we are confident that the attractive project economics will bring about the virtuous circle of an ongoing exploration programme supported by increasing levels of production, both from Amantaytau and, in the longer term, from other projects."

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Contacts:

Oxus Mining
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 714 411
Roger Tuner, CEO
Sacha Borthwick, VP Corporate Development

Brown Shipley Corporate Finance
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7606 9833
Bill Staple

College Hill
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7457 2020
Archie Berens