AIM Admission

Mercator Gold PLC
08 October 2004



8 October 2004

                               Mercator Gold PLC
                   Admission to AIM and first day of trading

Mercator Gold PLC ('Mercator' or 'the Company'), the UK based gold exploration
company, today joins AIM (MCR).

Key Statistics
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately on Admission         51,494,800
Number of Warrants in issue at Admission                            37,294,600
Market Capitalisation of the Company at the pre-Admission Unit
Placing Price                                                         £3.09 m

Prior to Admission to AIM, Mercator raised £0.52 million in a private placing of
8.7 million units at 6.0p (Unit = 1 fully paid share and 1 free piggy back
warrant which is listed and free trading (MCRW). Phillip Securities is acting as
broker and Beaumont Cornish as nominated adviser.

Shareholders (issued shared capital)                    On Listing           %
Directors Holdings                                       11,860,200      23.02
First International Resources Ltd                         8,250,000      16.02
Caledonian Capital Ltd                                    8,150,000      15.83
Newlands Resources Ltd                                    5,800,000      11.26
Ocean Resources Capital Holdings plc                      5,000,000       9.71
Hartford Investment Group Ltd                             4,200,000       8.15
City Equities Ltd                                         4,000,000       7.77
Hoodless Brennan & Partners                               2,500,000       4.85

Patrick Harford, Managing Director of Mercator, said: 'In the last year, there
has been a renewed investor interest in the gold sector. Our AIM listing enables
us to take advantage of this favourable market and raise the capital we require
to pursue our goal of making significant gold discoveries.'

Formed in March 2004, Mercator's strategy is to identify large ground holdings
of gold in and around known mining areas, on a global basis. The Company is
targeting discoveries totalling 2 million ounces of gold in orebodies greater
than 500,000 ounces.

Mercator benefits from access to the SpaDis technology, developed by Vearncombe
& Associates Pty Ltd. This is an exploration tool previously only available to
major mining companies which allows for rapid processing of large geological
databases and the prioritasion of drilling targets. Using SpaDis, which to date
has only been used by the majors, the team will be able to assess large
databases from known gold areas and prioritise key target areas quickly, keeping
land holding costs to a minimum.

The first opportunity is at Meekatharra in Western Australia, in a joint venture
with St Barbara Mines ('SBM'), where the team will test its approach on a known
productive gold field in this politically stable environment. Mercator will
carry out a 20,000 metre drilling programme between October and December 2004 to
test eight high priority gold targets generated by a SpaDis analyses of +60 gold
anomalies identified in previous exploration work. Each target has been selected
for its potential to host in excess of 500,000 ounces.

The joint venture agreement between Mercator and SBM entitles the Company to
earn a 45% interest in the Meekatharra Properties by spending A$3m on
exploration in the first two years, with a minimum of A$1m. It can then move to
earn 51% for a further A$1m and 70% for A$4m, at which point SBM must contribute
pro-rata to any further expenditure, or dilute its interest.

The drilling programme will test resource extention in the Brownfields and
Greenfields targets.

  Ends  

For further information, please contact:

Mercator Gold PLC        Phillip Securities      Parkgreen Communications
Patrick Harford          Nick Bealer             Justine Howarth / Ana Ribeiro
T: [phone]   [phone]     [phone]

Notes to Editors

Projects

   • Yaloginda - This line of workings has been the principal source of
    production for St Barbara Mines. Its 15 km x 2 km area has yielded 18
    deposits in a variety of styles of mineralization, but the open pits do not
    go below 70m depth.

Mercator will assess the geology, structure, alteration and gold distribution to
see if a super pit style of operation is realistic, and it will examine
potential for extensions of orebodies in depth. The target resource is >500,000
oz.

   • Nannine - Oxide deposits were mined by St Barbara with records indicated
    that total gold production has exceeded 100,000 oz. The mineralization is
    hosted in basalt, iron formations and granite. Again, >500,000 oz deposits
    are being sought.
   • Kurara East - Gold mineralization is hosted in sulphidic quartz veins,
    mainly in altered granite, basalt and dolerite. A 3.5 km long zone of
    anomalous gold geochemistry has been identified at Bluebush and Mingah, with
    aircore drilling returning some good intercepts.
   • Meekatharra North - Is part of a line of workings with an endowment
    (production + resources) of over 2.0 million ounces of gold. Mercator is
    targeting the under-explored northern extension of this alteration zone.

SpaDis Technology

The SpaDisTM technology, developed by Vearncombe & Associates Pty Ltd, is an
exploration tool that helps make sense of data produced in the early exploration
phase. It uses a technique of assessment known as autocorrelation which is based
on an unbiased geometric method of spatial analysis. At the regional scale,
autocorrelation analysis can assess distribution patterns of mineralization and
potential controlling structures. At the deposit scale, the characteristics of
mineralised zones such as direction, spacing, high grade ore direction and grade
distribution can all be understood. Stated more simply, it determines patterns
in distribution of gold in a given geological environment, thereby providing an
element of predictability as to where to look for gold.




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