INDOCHINA GOLDFIELDS' JOINT VENTURE AWARDS CONTRACTS TO FINANCE AND CONSTRUCT MYANMAR COPPER MINE SINGAPORE, Aug. 12 /CNW - Asianet/ - R. Edward Flood, President, and Robert M.Friedland, Chairman, announced today that Indochina Goldfields Ltd. and its joint venture partner have awarded contracts to provide financing, construction and copper marketing for the first phase of mining and production at the Monywa copper complex in north-central Myanmar. The contracts were awarded to a syndicate of the Japanese trading houses, Marubeni Corporation and Nissho Iwai Corporation, as well as Chiyoda Corporation, a leading Japanese engineering construction company. The syndicate of Japanese trading houses, headed by Marubeni, will provide a US$90 million project loan to finance construction of the mine's first phase. The project loan will be used, in part, to pay a US$78 million lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction contract that the joint venture has awarded to a consortium of Chiyoda and Marubeni. The consortium, in accepting responsibility for the construction and commissioning, will provide completion and performance guarantees regarding the start date, plant capacity and quality of the copper cathode to be produced at the complex. Marubeni also has been awarded a long-term sales agreement covering copper cathode to be produced during the first seven years of operation. Indochina Goldfields, which has already committed US$28 million in equity financing to the project, is developing Monywa with its 50% joint venture partner, Mining Enterprise No.1. The joint venture's board and the Myanmar government's ministries of investment and finance have approved the financing, construction and marketing contracts. "The opportunity to finance Monywa attracted some of the world's trading heavyweights, which astutely recognized the project's promise," Mr. Flood said. "We were impressed by the enthusiasm shown by all interested participants and we expect even broader interest as we formally seek proposals to finance the Phase II expansion." Mr. Friedland said the agreements with the Japanese trading companies are a landmark development for Indochina Goldfields. "The Phase I contracts that will bring Monywa on stream assure Indochina Goldfields' evolution from a venture capital concept and an explorer into an international producer with a world-scale mine that is close to major Asian centres of consumption." Construction has already started on the Phase I heap-leach, solvent extraction-electrowinning plant at Monywa. The mine complex is scheduled to be producing copper cathode in nine months. Phase I will be in full commercial production, at a rate of 25,000 tonnes a year, by the end of 1998. Indochina Goldfields has already initiated preliminary discussions to secure project financing and construction for the Phase II expansion of Monywa, which will involve development of the adjacent Letpadaung ore body. Letpadaung is expected to produce an additional 63,500 tonnes of copper cathode a year, giving Monywa a combined annual production from Phases I & II of 88,500 tonnes (195 million pounds). A bankable feasibility study of Phase II, recently completed by Minproc Engineers of Perth, Australia, forecast a cash operating cost of approximately 43 cents (US) a pound, requiring initial capital, development and commissioning costs and working capital of approximately US$300 million. Indochina Goldfields' other assets include gold and copper properties and various mineral interests in Indonesia, Kazakstan, South Korea, Vietnam and Fiji. The company's shares trade on the Toronto and Australian stock exchanges under the symbol ING. Web site: http://www.goldfields.com /For further information: R. Edward Flood, President North America (604) 688-5755 / (ING.)