AR. Archipelago Res

RNS Number:3081A
Archipelago Resources PLC
27 March 2006

Archipelago Resources plc

23 March 2006

                             BANK FINANCE APPROVED
                                    for the
                           TOKA TINDUNG GOLD PROJECT


Archipelago Resources plc ("Archipelago"or "the Company") is pleased to announce
that credit committee approval has been received from four banks that have
agreed to provide a syndicated loan facility for the development of the
Company's 85% owned Toka Tindung Gold Project in Sulawesi, Indonesia (the
"Project"). The syndication was arranged by N.M. Rothschild & Sons (Australia)
Limited ("Rothschild") following the granting to Rothschild of an exclusive
financing mandate to provide debt finance and hedging facilities for the
Project. The four banks are:-

a) Rothschild,
b) Australia and New Zealand Banking Group,
c) Societe Generale and
d) WestLB AG;

who together will provide a US$38.5m debt and US$4.0m cost overrun facility.

Extensive technical reviews and due diligence have been undertaken by the
lenders' engineer and other consultants, however a number of pre-conditions
remain to be satisfied prior to debt drawdown. These include the raising and
expenditure by the Company of additional capital, the issue of operating permits
in accordance with development and environmental approvals previously issued by
the Indonesian government and the implementation of a hedging facility involving
approximately 45% of the project's current reserves.

In December, the Company announced that it had commenced interim hedging to the
extent of 33% of current reserves by way of the purchase of put options to
provide a floor price and protect Project revenue. The Company expects to
convert a portion of its existing resources into additional reserves on the back
of the current strong gold price and is confident of discovering further
reserves by means of exploration, thereby extending the Project life.

The Project operates under two Contracts of Work ("CoW") which constitute an
agreement between the CoW operating companies, in which Archipelago holds an 85%
interest and the Indonesian government. The CoWs provide exclusive rights for
the operating companies to explore, develop and produce from any identified
mineral deposits. Those portions of the CoWs that contain the delineated mineral
deposits that comprise the Project have now progressed to 'Construction' stage
in preparation for construction of the processing plant and the commencement of
mining.

In addition to construction rights, the CoW operating companies also have
environmental approvals in the form of approved AMDALs.

The project site is already cleared for construction and a workshop/warehouse
recently constructed with an administration office well advanced. Other
construction activities will commence as soon as contracts are finalised.
Shipment of the containerised portion of the El Tambo processing plant purchased
by Archipelago from Barrick is expected to take place early this year with the
remainder to follow soon after.

Archipelago anticipates having to raise about #11m of additional funding to: -

a)  complete project construction;
b)  commence exploration on the numerous mineralised targets and extensions to
    known deposits at Toka Tindung;
c)  undertake exploration in Vietnam and the Philippines; and
d)  meet corporate operating expenditure.

The mechanisms for raising these funds are still under consideration by the
Company but include equity and additional debt supported by current robust
project economics.

The Toka Tindung Gold Project has a resource of 1.75M ounces (ozs) of gold
equivalent, of which at least 0.9M ozs will initially be mineable by open pit.
The Project is targeted to produce an average 160,000 ozs per annum for the
initial 5 years of the current 6 year mine life. Production is expected to
commence in early 2007.

Archipelago is a mining company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange. The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in
Indonesia (as 85% owner of the Toka Tindung Gold Project in Sulawesi), Vietnam
(as majority party in the Cam Thuy/Ba Thuoc joint venture with Vimico a
Vietnamese Government mining company) and the Philippines (as option holder over
a 100% interest in the Corplex tenements).

Further Info:
Colin Loosemore
Managing Director
Archipelago Resources Plc.
Tel: 00-618-9364-8301

Richard Chase
Ambrian Partners Ltd
Tel: 020-7776-6401

Ron Marshman / John Greenhalgh
City of London PR Limited
Tel: 020-7628-5518

                          www.mining-investor.com/arch






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

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