Employee Share Options

Avocet Mining PLC - employee share options

Avocet Mining PLC ('Avocet' or 'the Company') announces the award of a total of 3,330,000 options over ordinary shares of 5 pence in the Company ('Options') to employees on 8 March 2013 ('the Grant Date'). These Options have an exercise price of 23.5 pence. No options were awarded to Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibility.

Of these awards, 2,370,000 share options are not normally exercisable before 8 March 2016, the third anniversary of the Grant Date. In addition to the normal scheme rules, these options have an additional performance criterion in order to be fully exercisable, namely that the 30-day volume-weighted average price ('VWAP') for Avocet shares must exceed 80 pence in the period between the Grant Date and the 8 March 2016 (the 'Service Period'). If the maximum 30-day VWAP during the Service Period is between 40 pence and 80 pence, the number of options which become exercisable will be a pro rata scale between 25% of the number of options awarded (for 40 pence) and 100% of the options awarded (for 80 pence). If the maximum 30-day VWAP during the Service Period does not reach 40 pence, no options will be exercisable.

The remaining 960,000 share options will become immediately exercisable, if the Avocet VWAP share price reaches 80 pence at any time between the Grant Date and 31 December 2015. If the VWAP share price between Grant Date and 31 December 2015 reaches between 40 pence and 80 pence, the number of options which become exercisable at that time will be a pro rata scale between 25% of the number of options awarded (for 40 pence) and 100% of the options awarded (for 80 pence). If the maximum 30-day VWAP between Grant Date and 31 December 2015 does not reach 40 pence, no options will be exercisable. Any of these 960,000 options will lapse, if unexercised, by 31 December 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

NOTES TO EDITORS

Avocet Mining is a gold mining and exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (ticker: AVM.OL). The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in West Africa.

In Burkina Faso the Company owns 90% of the Inata Gold Mine. The deposit at Inata and its satellite deposits currently comprises a Mineral Resource of 4.71 million ounces and a Ore Reserve of 0.92 million ounces. The Inata Gold Mine poured its first gold in December 2009 and produced 135,189 ounces of gold in 2012.

Other assets in Burkina Faso include eight exploration permits surrounding the Inata Gold Mine in the broader Bélahouro region. The most advanced of these assets are at Souma, some 20 kilometres from the Inata Gold Mine, where Mineral Resources of 0.78 million ounces exist.

In Guinea, Avocet owns 22 exploration licences in the north east of the country. Exploration has been ongoing since 2005 and the project at Tri-K is the most advanced. Within the Tri-K project, the Koulékoun Prospect has a Mineral Resource of 2.29 million ounces and the Kodiéran Prospect comprises 0.93 million ounces.