AR. Archipelago Res

RNS Number:9532E
Archipelago Resources PLC
22 June 2006


                                  ANNOUNCEMENT

                                    APPROVAL
                                      for
                                    VIETNAM
                                  GOLD PROJECT

Archipelago Resources plc ("Archipelago" or "the Company") is pleased to
announce that following endorsement by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, it has
entered into a joint venture heads of agreement with Minerals Corporation
("VIMICO") an affiliate member of national minerals company Vietnam National
Coal - Minerals Industries Group ("VINACOMIN") and provincial mining company Bac
Kan Mineral Joint - Stock Company ("Bac Kan") to explore for gold and associated
minerals at the Pac Lang Gold Project in northern Vietnam. The parties have
lodged an exploration licence application ("ELA") covering the project area and
are progressing with the relevant ministries to achieve approval in coming
months.

The Pac Lang mineralised system is located approximately 160 kilometres north
north east of Hanoi in the Ngan Son district of Bac Kan province. It comprises a
group of gold mineralised quartz veins initially exploited by the French early
in the last century which became the site of a major gold rush in 1990-1991
following the discovery of a large quartz vein containing high grade gold
mineralisation. Mining activities were subsequently suspended by Vietnamese
government authorities and apart from soil geochemistry by the French government
organisation BRGM and some small scale mining by Bac Kan, the project remains
unevaluated by modern exploration methods.

At least 15 gold mineralised mesothermal quartz veins generally less than 2
metres wide have been identified with a combined outcropping and inferred strike
length of 3,300 metres. The veins are sediment hosted and generally steeply
dipping. Many of the veins are clustered and based on previous preliminary
sampling (1999) reportedly assay between 0.4 and 49 grams per tonne gold.

Subject to the rights of the Government of Vietnam and the Company's right to
withdraw, Archipelago will be entitled to an interest of 65% in the joint
venture and has undertaken to expend US$1.24m within two years from the date of
grant of the ELA. Exploration will commence as soon as possible following ELA
approval and will be focused on defining a mineral resource within the known
areas of gold mineralisation.

Archipelago was invited by VIMICO to participate in the Pac Lang Gold Project
based on relations developed between the parties as a result of their joint
applications for exploration rights over the prospective carbonate replacement
gold mineralised system at Cam Thuy - Ba Thoc, the Company's other Vietnamese
gold project.

Archipelago considers that the experience and multi faceted skills of its
employees and their success in progressing the Toka Tindung Gold Project to
development, were influential in the Vietnamese authorities' decision to select
the Company as a partner for the Pac Lang Gold Project.

Pac Lang will likely be the first approved ELA for the Company in Vietnam and is
considered to have the potential to be the Company's second mining development
after its flagship project at Toka Tindung in Indonesia where construction is
about to commence following completion of development financing.

Archipelago is a mining company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange. Its 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 Pac Lang and Cam Thuy / Ba Thuoc gold projects) 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: 020-7776-6461

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

END
JVEXFLFLQQBXBBB

Archipelago Resources (LSE:AR.)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024

Archipelago Resources (LSE:AR.)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024