Litigation in the Kyrgyz Repu

RNS Number : 1156V

Aurum Mining PLC

27 October 2010

 



27 October 2010

AURUM MINING PLC

("Aurum" or the "Company")

Litigation in the Kyrgyz Republic

Aurum announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, Tryden International Limited ("Tryden"'), was named, amongst others, as a defendant to a civil case which has been heard in the Talas Inter-District Court (the "Court") in the Kyrgyz Republic. The case was brought against Tryden by the General Prosecutors Office of the Kyrgyz Republic. Neither Tryden nor the Company received any formal notification from the Court in advance of the hearing.

The claim, which, the Company is informed, was upheld by the Court, seeks to invalidate the transfer of the Company's 20 per cent. stake in the Andash asset to Investcenter Talas LLC ("ITC") in October 2009 and Tryden's subsequent acquisition of 10 per cent. of the Andash asset from ITC in February 2010. The Company is still awaiting documentary evidence of the ruling.

The key implication of the ruling is that Tryden may be stripped of its residual 10 per cent stake in the Andash asset.

The Company strongly disputes the claim and will be appealing the decision of the Court. All transactions under question were completed with total transparency and integrity and both were ratified and registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Company is now going through an information gathering exercise in order to fully understand the rationale and motives behind this claim and the Company will be commencing legal action against those responsible for this action.

The Company does not believe these events will have any impact on the proposed capital reduction and will keep the market updated on progress.

For further information:

Aurum Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Mark Jones, Chief Executive Chris Eadie, Chief Financial Officer
Arbuthnot Securities	Tel: [phone]
Richard Johnson

 

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