Board Change

PETROPAVLOVSK PLC

Petropavlovsk PLC appoints 3 new executive directors and a new Senior Non-Executive Director whilst expanding management functions

Petropavlovsk PLC (the "Company" or "Petropavlovsk") today announces that, following the Board's Strategic Review of Business, it has appointed three additional executive directors and created two new management structures to work alongside and report to its Executive Committee ("ExCo"). Additionally it announces that Mr. Peter Hill-Wood, Chairman of the Arsenal Football Club, has relinquished the role of Senior Non-Executive Director and that Dr. Graham Birch will assume this role. All these appointments take effect on 4th January 2011.

New Board Appointments

Dr Alya Samokhvalova becomes Strategic Director and will chair the newly created Strategic Committee. Dr. Samokhvalova will continue in her role as Group Head of External Communications, a position she has held since joining Petropavlovsk in 2002. She has a Masters in Investment Management from CASS Business School, London and a PhD in Economics from the Moscow International High Business School.

Mr Andrey Maruta becomes Finance Director, Russia and will serve on the Strategic Committee. Mr. Maruta, who was Group Financial Controller, qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant at Moore Stephens in 2001 and joined the Group in 2003 as Group Chief Accountant. He was appointed Deputy Finance Director in 2005 and Finance Director in 2006 before the merger with Aricom plc.

Mr Martin Smith becomes Technical Director and will chair the newly created Technical Committee. Mr. Smith, now Group Head, Technical Services, joined as Technical Director of Aricom PLC in June 2006. He has more than 25 years' operational and corporate management experience across the global mining industry, working with Anglo American Corporation, Kier International, Costain Mining and Shell International.

Change to Senior Independent Non-Executive Director

In addition to the appointments, Mr. Peter Hill-Wood steps down as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and Dr. Graham Birch has agreed to assume this role.

Dr. Birch became a Non-Executive Director in February 2010, retiring in 2009 as Head of international fund manager BlackRock's successful Natural Resources team, where he was responsible for some $40 billion of assets under management. Dr. Birch is well known in the investor community and will provide shareholders with independent access to the company.

The Board will seek to make additional appointments to ensure an appropriate balance between executive and non-executive directors.

Technical Committee

This committee, which reports to ExCo, will be chaired by Martin Smith and will involve members of the Company's technical services divisions, such as geology, engineering, mining and processing. It has as its task the creation and presentation of technical analysis on all budgets, forecasts and investment plans and it is intended that in so doing it will provide technical support for the work of the Strategic Committee.

Strategic Committee

This committee, which reports to ExCo, will be chaired by Alya Samokhvalova, who will be supported by Andrey Maruta. Both of these are existing members of the Company's ExCo and have worked for the company in London for more than seven years. Dmitry Chekashkin, a member of ExCo and Group Head, Precious Metals Operations will also serve on the committee, as will the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Pavel Maslovskiy.

The functions of the committee are to formulate annual and long-term budgets and forecasts and to monitor performance against these.

Chairman's Comment

"Pavel Maslovskiy and I are delighted that the Board has decided to bring on a new generation of executive directors. All of them have been involved with the Company for a long time and bring a wealth of hands-on technical, financial and communications skills to fulfill the needs of the Company as it grows to become a major producer in the world gold business.

Graham Birch, in his new role as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, will provide an independent access point for our institutional shareholders, to most of whom he is well known.

Peter Hambro, Chairman.