1st Dec 2006 12:50
Peter Hambro Mining PLC01 December 2006 1st December 2006 Peter Hambro Mining PLC Regulatory update: Positive comments from Amur Region authorities Further to the Company's announcement of 29 November 2006 concerning questionsraised over the company's licences by Rosprirodnadzor Moscow, Peter HambroMining welcomes statements made by officials of the Amur Regional offices ofRosprirodnadzor and Rostekhnadzor about their views on Peter Hambro Mining'sassets in the region, published in an interview with the Russian news serviceInterfax 1st December 2006. These agencies in the Russian Far East areresponsible for inspecting and supervising the Group's major production assets. It is Peter Hambro Mining's understanding that further inspections of some orall of the Group's mining licences in Russia may well be instigated but thecompany is pleased to note the positive comments from the officials ofRosprirodnadzor and Rostekhnadzor in Blagovshensk, Amur Region. Interfax reportsto the effect that, following the routine inspection made in 2005, theseagencies have no further questions for Peter Hambro Mining about the fulfilmentof license conditions. The next routine inspection is scheduled to take place in2007. The officials do not rule out spot inspections however. The Company continues to welcome any and all official inspections of itsoperations. Public statements made by Rosprirodnadzor in Moscow suggest that it hassubmitted, or is considering submitting, a paper to Rosnedra, (the RussianSubsoil Agency of the Natural Resources Ministry,) the regulatory body thatdetermines on mining licence matters, and that this paper alleges certainbreaches of Peter Hambro's licences, at Novogodnee-Monto in the Yamal Region.This paper covers two exploration licence areas within Peter Hambro Mining'sportfolio of approximately fifty licences. While the public statements made by Rosprirodnadzor refer to a total of fivelicences the Company understands that the comments relate to three licenceswhich are no longer any part of Peter Hambro Mining following the Company'sdisposals of its minority interests in these assets as disclosed in theCompany's last annual report. Peter Hambro Mining has still not received formal notification in relationto such a paper, and is therefore not in a position to comment on any of thealleged violations. All the Group's operations are regularly inspected from an environmental andhealth and safety point of view. In this context, Peter Hambro Mining is notaware of any material environmental or health and safety regulatoryinfractions. However, Peter Hambro Mining will of course work with the relevantregulatory authorities to address any concerns that are raised with the Company. The Company's understanding is that before any decision would be made by thecompetent authorities in relation to any of its mining licences the Companywould be involved in a process under which it could challenge and / or remedyany alleged breaches before any punitive action is taken by the authorities Commenting on the above, Mr Peter Hambro, Executive Chairman said: "It is reassuring that the authorities with whom we work at the local levelspeak positively about our operations since we have a long history of workingwith the Ministry of Natural Resources and the relevant regulatory authoritiesin Russia at both local and federal levels. In connection with the recent mediareports we look forward to working with the authorities to clarify any issuesthey wish to address." Contact: Peter Hambro, Executive Chairman +44 (0) 207 201 8900Peter Hambro Mining Plc Tom Randell / Maria Suleymanova +44 (0) 207 653 6620Merlin This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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