99.99% of all yesterday's volume of 350,000 were bought in the last 30mins after this statement was issued just before 4pm. I already had a few, bought a few more this morning.




Oxus Mining Plc
16 April 2003



OXUS DRAWS ON $36 MILLION PROJECT FINANCE FACILITY

AMANTAYTAU GOLDFIELDS FULL STEAM AHEAD



Oxus Mining plc ('Oxus') (OXS.L) announces that Amantaytau Goldfields ('AGF')
has commenced drawdown on its project finance facility to complete construction
of the oxides project ('the Project') in Uzbekistan. The facility has been
provided by Standard Bank London Limited and WestLB AG, with Societe Generale
acting as security agent, and consists of a $30 million senior term loan plus a
$6 million cost overrun facility. It is anticipated that the National Bank of
Uzbekistan will join the syndicate in the near future. The facility was secured
without the need for additional finance from Oxus. This ensured there would be
no further dilution to shareholders. Endeavour Financial has been the financial
adviser to Oxus with respect to this financing.



The pre-production capital cost of the Project is $29.9 million, which includes
all financing costs, pre-production interest, working capital and contingency.
Construction is already well underway and first gold pour is expected in
December 2003. The Project will initially produce 190,000 ounces of gold per
year at a cash cost per ounce of $106. The Project will represent the first
carbon-in-pulp plant to be installed in the former Soviet Union and the first
new mine built with foreign investment to go into production in Uzbekistan. Oxus
has a 50% interest in AGF and has management and operational control. At a $320
gold price, during the first two years of production, AGF is forecast to repay
the senior term loan in full, and to generate a further $30 million cash to
Oxus. Oxus will also receive an immediate $1.6 million repayment on account of
its existing loan to AGF from the proceeds of the first drawdown.



The Project initially produces 650,000 ounces from the oxide ores from only 2 of
26 known gold deposits within AGF's 1,000 square kilometre licence areas. The
total resource potential of AGF, including additional oxide ores (some of which
are amenable to heap leaching), the sulphide ores and further exploration
targets is currently evaluated at 21 million ounces. AGF is currently developing
an aggressive exploration and development programme to convert these resources
into mineable reserves and to increase the overall resource base, with the
target of AGF producing in excess of 500,000 ounces of gold per year by 2006.
Most of the deposits are open at depth and along strike and it is expected that
significant further ounces will be discovered.



The AGF licence areas are only 30 kilometres away from the Muruntau mine, one of
the largest open pit gold mines in the world, having already produced over 50
million ounces, and currently producing 1.8 million ounces per year with an
estimated 30 years of further production potential. The AGF licence areas and
Muruntau form part of the Tien Shan Gold Belt, which represents the second
largest gold province in the world after South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin, and
contains over 400 million ounces of gold in reserves and historic production.
Oxus has additional exploration rights over a further 2,000 square kilometres on
the Tien Shan Belt.



Bill Trew, CEO of Oxus, commented:



'I believe Oxus is now poised to become the investment of the decade. The
timeous implementation of this project will give Oxus the cash to develop and
grow into the world-class company its destiny demands, in the shortest possible
time.



Our challenge now lies in developing Amantaytau into an operating mine giving
superior returns to our shareholders. In doing this, the Oxus team will
re-define the standards by which all other gold companies measure themselves.



Our shareholders can finally look to the future knowing with certainty that Oxus
will now become the success they deserve.'





16 April 2003

I think OXS will be popular today