For immediate release                                  5 November2012

TSXV: IEA


                Centamin plc ("Centamin" or "the Company")

                             (LSE:CEY, TSX:CEE)


                                Market update

Following the market update of 31 October 2012 Centamin has now
received a copy of the official written judgement of the decision of
the Egyptian administrative court handed down on Tuesday 30 October
2012.

As expected by the Company, the official written judgement makes it
clear that it rejects any request to terminate or treat as invalid the
Concession Agreement entered into between the Arab Republic of Egypt,
the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority ("EMRA") and Centamin's wholly
owned subsidiary Pharaoh Gold Mines ("PGM"), and approved by the
People's Assembly as law 222 of 1994. The judgement further makes it
clear that PGM had made the necessary notifications to be entitled to
be granted an "exploitation lease" in accordance with the Concession
Agreement.

However, the judgement states that, although agreement was reached
between PGM and EMRA with respect to the grant of the 160km2"exploitation
lease" at Sukari, sufficient evidence was not submitted
to Court in order to demonstrate that, as required by the terms of the
Concession Agreement, the requisite approval from the relevant Minister
had been obtained, and thus the court deemed that the process of the
conversion to an exploitation lease was therefore invalid.

Centamin, however, is in possession of the executed original lease
documentation which clearly shows such approval from the Minister of
Petroleum and Mineral Resources. It appears that this document was not
listed in the documents supplied to the Court. As such the Company is
confident that this matter can be resolved during the appeal process.

The Company continues to work in close co-operation with EMRA and both
parties are currently in the process of initiating the necessary
vigorous action to defend our rights to continue to extract gold from
the Sukari mine and to appeal this decision.

Pending the appeal hearing, the notice of "objection to enforcement",
lodged on 31st October has the effect of "staying" (postponing) the
implementation of any judicial decision for a period until any hearing
on such notice. As notified to the market on 31st October, the appeal
process would be accompanied by a further request for the decision to
be "stayed" pending the outcome of a final court hearing. Centamin
therefore remains confident that normal operations at Sukari will be
maintained whilst our appeal case is heard.

Further updates will be provided to the market as and when more
information is available. In the meantime normal mining operations
continue.

The 'question and answer' section, which has been included on our
website to help clarify the situation for investors, has been updated
in light of the written judgement. A direct link is below:

http://www.centamin.com/centamin/investors/courtcaseqanda


For more information please contact:

Centamin plc                                   Buchanan
Josef El-Raghy, Chairman                       Bobby Morse
+44 207 569 1670                               Cornelia Browne
Andy Davidson, Head of Business Development    Gabriella Clinkard
and Investor Relations                         + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000
(andy.davidson@centamin.co.uk)
+44 (0) 20 7569 1671







                    This information is provided by RNS
          The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

Contacts: RNS Customer Services 0044-207797-4400 Email Contact http://www.rns.com

Centamin (TSX:CEE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024 Click Here for more Centamin Charts.
Centamin (TSX:CEE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024 Click Here for more Centamin Charts.