20 December 2016
Update on seized gold shipment
Further to the announcement on 25 November, Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or "the Company") announces that the court hearing scheduled for Monday 19th December in Ouagadougou, to determine the legality of the seizure of the gold shipment in October 2016 on behalf of certain ex-workers, has been postponed for at least a two week period. However, in the meantime, the Company remains hopeful that a settlement will be reached with the ex-employees which will result in the seized gold being released. The shipment (#314) comprised approximately 1,400 oz of gold and the cash realised from the sale of that gold will be used to pay the settlement which is being negotiated and agreed between the parties.
Inata Mine resumed operation in late November and regular shipments are proceeding as normal.
Further updates will be provided in due course.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
|
Avocet Mining PLC
|
Bell Pottinger
Financial PR Consultants
|
J.P. Morgan Cazenove Corporate Broker
|
|
David Cather, CEO Jim Wynn, FD
|
Lorna Cobbett
|
Michael Wentworth-Stanley
|
|
+44 20 3709 2570
|
+44 (0)20 3772 2555
|
+44 20 7742 4000
|
NOTES TO EDITORS
Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or the "Company") is an unhedged gold mining and exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (ticker: AVM.OL). The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in West Africa.
In Burkina Faso the Company owns 90% of the Inata Gold Mine. The Inata Gold Mine poured its first gold in December 2009 and produced 74,755 ounces of gold in 2015. Other assets in Burkina Faso include five exploration permits surrounding the Inata Gold Mine in the broader Bélahouro region. The most advanced of these projects is Souma, some 20 kilometers from the Inata Gold Mine.
The Company also holds an interest in the Tri-K project in Guinea. On 10 October 2016, the Company announced that it had agreed to dispose of 40% of the project to Managem, a Moroccan group listed on the Casablanca stock exchange, subject to, inter alia, shareholder approval, and which will increase upon completion of a bankable feasibility study for a CIL plant at the site, the incurring of expenditures of at least US$10 million, and the enlarging of the ore reserve, to 70% (in the event of an increase of the reserve to 1 million ounce or more) or 60% (if less than 1 million ounces).
1