African Mining and Exploration plc (AME) is a West African focused gold exploration company formed in late 2010 by a key group of mining and exploration professionals with over 100 years of experience in the African mining sector. Following the successful fundraising in October 2010, AME was admitted to AIM on November 1 2010 and enjoys strong support from its major institutional shareholders, Praetorian Resources and Fiske.

The Company acquired Caracal Gold Mali SARL in July 2012 and now operates nine exploration permits in Mali, Africa's third largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana. Six of the permits are in the centre of the Kenieba inlier in Western Mali, a block of ancient greenstones and granites hosting many significant gold deposits in Senegal and Mali thus making it one of the most important gold regions in Africa.

The acquisition of Caracal Gold came with a significant amount of historical exploration information on previous exploration work, including trenching and drilling programmes. These exhibited promising areas of mineralisation with good gold intersections at the Kossanto licence area. Following positive results from extended due diligence on these previous results, the company completed a resource definition drilling campaign in December 2012 with the aim of delineating its maiden JORC resource in the first half of 2013. The results of the drilling campaign were very positive and include intersects of 75m @ 2.04 g/t Au, 46m @ 2.16 g/t Au, 17m @ 3.86 g/t Au and 11m @ 6.16 g/t Au. For more details click here.

In addition to the highly prospective licences in its exploration portfolio, AME is routinely working on gaining additional exploration opportunities in other West African countries. AME has a high quality team of advisors and professionals to support the core management both in London where the company is headquartered and West Africa where the headquarters are in Bamako. Since the coup in March in Mali the Company has continued to operate effectively and is pleased to report that there has been limited impact on the exploration activities subsequent to the coup.

AME has developed an in house drilling operation which provides a very cost effective and highly responsive exploration capability. AME believe that this this, in conjunction with our highly motivated and capable geologists with significant West African exploration experience, provides an effective foundation for the discovery of any significant gold deposits in our permit areas. Furthermore it is a model that has proven attractive to potential business partners, as illustrated by the terms of the acquisition of Caracal Gold Mali SARL and by the MOU entered into in respect of the Tekeledougou permit in April

AME's stated strategic objective is:

'to create a gold focused exploration company concentrating on the investment in quality early exploration opportunities in West Africa through utilising the strengths of experienced professionals and partners to deliver significant investment return with managed risk'.

Commenting on Mali, Randgold resources CEO, Mark Bristow told a media briefing in Bamako, on 30 July 2010, that Randgold Resources' recent discovery of a world-class gold deposit at Gounkoto in western Mali confirms the region's potential for further finds of this size.

"Mali still holds enormous potential for further gold discoveries for those who are bold enough to invest in the region. It is with this in mind that we have built a substantial infrastructure at Loulo, capable of serving as a hub for a growing gold mining industry around it''.

The Directors of AME are in full agreement and believe that substantial potential exists for the discovery of new economic gold mines in the Country and the presence of a significant number of well-established gold producers offers scope for future joint ventures and other business arrangements likely to be beneficial to shareholders in the future. AME's Board has a proven track record in African gold exploration and mining and therefore an ability to allocate its resources to best effect quickly turning to account advanced exploration projects through appropriate and cost effective exploration.

The Board intends to use its experience, along with that of the Company's strong management team, to continue to expand its portfolio of gold assets through the judicious selection and acquisition of advanced projects with a low entry.