2010 Work Programmes

SHANTA GOLD LIMITED SHANTA GOLD STARTS 2010 WORK PROGRAMMES 31 March 2010 Shanta Gold Limited ("Shanta" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the start of its 2010 work programmes at the Chunya and Singida gold projects in Tanzania. Surface exploration trenching and drilling are planned at both Singida and Chunya, where a feasibility study on a small open pit mining operation is nearing completion. Planned work includes: ·         At Singida further drilling is planned on the Corn Patch and Corn Patch West prospects, containing inferred resources of 94,000 and 98,000 ounces of Au respectively (0g/t cut off). ·         Initiating feasibility activities, including an environmental impact assessment, a conceptual mine design and a project financial analysis, will be commissioned at Singida. ·         Follow-up surface exploration of the Muhintiri soil geochemistry anomalies by trenching is being undertaken and if results justify the expenditure, it is expected a drilling programme will be initiated. ·         Mechanised trenching of newly discovered extensions to known mineralized structures at Chunya has commenced. * RC drilling is planned on the new extensions that have returned economic surface trenching results at Chunya and if justified, drilling of new targets generated by trenching will be conducted. Singida work program In May 2009 Shanta announced an increase of the Singida total JORC compliant resource assessment to 1 million ounces. Included in this resource are 858,000 ounces at 2.84g/t (at a 1g/t cut off). Corn Patch and Corn Patch West, with an untested 3.5km strike separating them, contributed 94,000 and 98,000 ounces of Au respectively to the inferred resource. The 2010 programme is to include an reverse air blast (RAB) and reverse circulation (RC) drilling program (each 5,000m) to test the immediate extensions to the two prospects, particularly targeting this intervening strike, with the intention of upgrading some of these resources to indicated resources, and delineate further near surface open pittable resources. At Muhintiri, located 40km west of the Singida project, follow-up trenching has commenced on the soil geochemical anomalies encountered earlier. If this trenching is successful in exposing mineralised structures and confirms the presence of gold, preliminary RC and diamond drilling will be considered which will require an additional budget allocation. Preliminary mining feasibility studies will be commissioned and are expected to be completed at Singida during 2010. It is planned to complete an environmental impact assessment, a conceptual mine and a process design, and to retain the licence area pending completion of the full feasibility study in 2011. The approximate cost of the Singida programme is expected to be $2.0 million. Chunya work program The company announced a JORC compliant resource assessment of greater than 845,000 ounces of Au at a 0g/t cut off in April 2009. This includes a resource of 642,000 ounces at a grade of 2.39g/t (at a 1g/t cut off). The depth extent of new mineralised extensions announced in previous announcements will be tested during a limited RC drill program of 3,000m. Extensions to Luika, Bauhinia Creek, Luika South, Ilunga and Elizabeth Hill North will be prioritised. The company awaits the completion of a feasibility study and the award of a mining licence over this property. Further activities may emerge to ensure that mine construction can commence as soon as possible after this feasibility study has been completed. The Company has recently deployed a new backhoe excavator to the Chunya project. This is being utilised to fast track the surface delineation and evaluation of new extensions and to test further potential strike extensions. The excavation of strategic trenches has commenced. A budget allocation of $1.5 million has been made for the Chunya work program. Funding requirements The total estimated expenditure for planned activities for 2010 amounts to some $3.50 million. The company intends to finance the resulting expenditure through the utilisation of existing available cash balances, the utilisation of the SEDA facility announced on 18 December 2009 and through such further fund raising activities as the Board may deem appropriate through the course of 2010. For further information: Shanta Gold Limited http://www.shantagold.com Walton Imrie Mobile: +27 (0) 82 444 2851               +263 (0) 912131215 David Scott Mobile: + 255 (0) 784 366146 Walter Vorwerk Moblie: +27 (0)83 308 0080 Fairfax I.S. PLC Ewan Leggat/Laura Littley +44 (0) 20 7598 5368 Qualified Person: Deon van der Heever has more than 18 years experience in the mining and exploration industry. He is the Executive Director of GeoLogix MRC (Pty) Ltd. He is the founding member of GeoLogix and has provided consulting services to the minerals industry for eight years. His field of expertise is gold and platinum and he has completed and signed off many resource estimates in South Africa, Africa, North America and Tajikistan. He is registered by the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions as a Professional Natural Scientist in the field of practice of Geological Science, Registration Number 400115/00, and as such is considered to be a Competent Person. Deon van der Heever consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his (or her) information in the form and context in which it appears. Glossary - Indicated Resource. An in-situ mineral resource calculated with a moderate confidence level to which economic parameters have not been applied. - Inferred Resource.  An in-situ mineral resource calculated with a low confidence level to which economic parameters cannot be applied. JORC - The Joint Ore Reserves Committee.  The Australasian Code  for Reporting of Mineral Resources and  Ore Reserves (the 'JORC Code'  or 'the Code'), which  sets out minimum  standards, recommendations  and guidelines for  Public  Reporting  of  exploration  results,  mineral resources and ore reserves in Australasia.  - Measured Resource.  An in-situ mineral resource calculated with a high confidence level to which economic parameters have not been applied.  Also that part of a mineral resource where the data used for inspection, sampling and measurement is of sufficient quality and density such that the geological character, continuity, grade and nature are sufficiently well understood to define the location and characteristics of mineralisation with a high degree of confidence. - RAB Drilling. Reverse Air Blast Drilling. Rotary Air Blast Drilling is a percussion drilling normally used for shallow applications. A hole is drilled down usually using a conventional downhole hammer. The drill pipe is a conventional single passage pipe with the air travelling down the inside of the pipe and the sample travelling up the outside between the pipe and the hole. - RC Drilling. Reverse Circulation Drilling. A variation of the rotary drilling method in which the cuttings are pumped up and out of the drill pipe, an advantage in certain large diameter holes. [HUG#1399659]
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