Trading Statement

Griffin Mining Ld 20 February 2006 GRIFFIN MINING LIMITED 60 St James's Street, London SW1A 1LE, United Kingdom Telephone: + 44 (0)20 7629 7772 Facsimile: + 44 (0)20 7629 7773 E mail: griffin@griffinmining.com 20th February 2006 TRADING STATEMENT Griffin Mining Limited ('Griffin' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that, following the successful commissioning of the Caijiaying Mine and processing facilities ('the Mine') in June 2005, 92,096 tonnes of ore have been processed at the Mine in the six months to 31st December 2005, to produce 6,676 tonnes of zinc metal in concentrate. Following commissioning, steady improvements have been made in recovery rates, concentrate and tailings grades. Production rates are being increased and throughput is expected to be increased in the near future. Operating costs in the period to 31st December 2005 were higher than envisaged for in the long term budgets due to inevitable initial teething problems in commissioning the plant. However, these have now been rectified with the skilled labour force, and equipment and spares on site. Unit costs were also higher than allowed for in the long term budgets for the Mine due to a lower head grade being fed to the plant and lower initial production rates. With the plant now fully commissioned, improved efficiencies in production and increasing production rates are being reflected in falling unit costs. Underground mine development has progressed ahead of schedule with the main production decline completed to a depth of 200 vertical metres. Access has been constructed to the Fu Long, Jin Long and Chang Long lodes allowing stoping to commence at each of these lodes. Access has also been gained to the Hong Long lode and initial access gained to the main Ju Long lode. During mine development, economic mineralisation was found at shallower levels than previously expected. As a result, ore was extracted during mine development with 53,350 tonnes of ore stockpiled as at 31st December 2005. Management has taken a conscious decision to slightly lower the zinc head grade being fed into the mill from that envisaged in the feasibility. This has been done to fully utilise the ore discovered at shallower levels during driving the decline at the Mine and lowering the cut off grade to increase the Mine tonnage and increase throughput at the mill. A combination of supply shortages and high demand in China has helped to drive up the price of zinc in 2005 and should maintain the upward pressure on the zinc price in 2006 and subsequent years. The price of refined zinc on the London Metals Exchange ('LME') grew by 71.71% in 2005. Impacted by the growth in international markets, the price of Shanghai zinc soared to RMB19,650 ($2,465) per tonne in January 2006. This compares to a zinc price at the time Griffin completed its feasibility study on the Mine in August 2003 of $760 per tonne. Zinc concentrate is currently being sold by monthly tender from the Mine to Chinese smelters and metals traders. The successful bidder is required to pay for the concentrate in advance prior to collection of the concentrate from the Mine. After taking due account of indicative smelter charges and transportation costs, the prices received for zinc concentrate in 2005 have been in excess of indicative prices on the London Metals Exchange. In view of the current high zinc prices and the ready availability of zinc ore at shallower levels, management has focused on the extraction and processing of zinc ore without, at this stage, extracting and processing gold rich ore. Should that situation change, or as the mine develops to lower levels where the bulk of the higher grade gold is located, then processing of gold ore will take place. At that point, precious metal dore will be produced at the Mine. Extremely high health and safety standards to western specifications have been implemented at the Mine. As a result, the successful commissioning of the Mine has been achieved without any serious safety incidents and with no deaths at the Mine. Over 350 people are now engaged on the Mine of which 160 are full time employees of the joint venture company operating the Mine and the remainder provide contracting services for the provision of mining, ore haulage and other supporting services. Griffin has been able to defer the commencement of the two year Chinese corporate tax holiday on income derived from the Mine to start from 1st January 2006. With income expected to significantly increase from the Mine in 2006 and 2007, this should have a positive financial impact for the Company. Mladen Ninkov, Griffin's Chairman, commented as follows: 'The Mine has been commissioned with the absolute minimum of teething problems for a completely new mine with all the ancillary facilities and services, which is a huge credit to the professional and supporting staff at the Company and the Mine. The Company is now set to reap the financial benefits of the current extraordinarily strong base metals market. ' Further information Mladen Ninkov - Chairman Telephone: +44(0)20 7629 7772 Roger Goodwin - Finance Director Griffin Mining Limited Andrew Smith/Martin Eales Telephone: +44(0)20 7523 8350 Collins Stewart Limited Hugo de Salis Telephone: +44(0)20 7242 4477 St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Griffin Mining Limited's shares are quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (symbol GFM). The Company's news releases are available on the Company's web site: www.griffinmining.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
UK 100