First Day Dealings

Shanta Gold Limited
11 July 2005



                              Shanta Gold Limited

                          Admission to trading on AIM


       •         Exploration and development of gold deposits in Tanzania



Shanta Gold Limited ("Shanta" or the "Company"; Ticker: "SNG"), the Tanzania
gold exploration and development company, announces that its shares commenced
trading on AIM today.



The Company raised £3,486,184 (net of expenses) through a placing of 17,224,735
ordinary shares of 0.01p, at a price of 25p per share (the "Placing Shares")
giving the Company a market capitalisation of  £15,556,184.



WH Ireland Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is co-broker with
Haywood Securities (UK) Limited.



Shanta is the ultimate holding company of Shanta Mining Company Limited 
("SMCL"), Mgusu Mining Limited ("MML") and Nsimbanguru Mining Limited ("NML").



SMCL, established in 2001, holds all the interests in the Group's projects other
than the interests in the Mgusu Project and Simba Nguru Project now owned by MML
and NML, respectively. In the period from its establishment to 31 March 2005,
SMCL spent in excess of US$4.5m acquiring prospecting licences ("PLs"), as well
as conducting initial exploration on the Group's portfolio of exploration
properties, of which the most notable are:


  • Mgusu - an advanced gold exploration project located in the Geita Greenstone belt in Northern Tanzania with a gold
    resource of 741,000 oz (of which 127,000oz has been classed as Indicated Mineral Resource and 614,000 oz as an      
    Inferred Mineral Resource) as detailed in SRK's report contained in the Company's AIM Admission Document.  Prior to 
    Admission, Mgusu was transferred to MML
  • Simba Nguru - a gold exploration project in central Tanzania which SRK confirms, if the gold grades prove to be
    consistent, has the potential to host in excess of 300,000 oz of gold.  Prior to Admission, Simba Nguru was         
    transferred to NML
  • Musoma District - Shanta's interest in this area consists of three projects (Katario, Ikungu and Suguti) all within 
    25 kilometres of each other.
     -  SRK considers, on the basis of the underground sampling, geophysical interpretation and the gold grades seen at 
        the old Tembo mine, that Katario has the potential to host in excess of 300,000 oz of gold.
     -  An Inferred Mineral Resource of 185,000 oz of gold has been reported for Ikungu and SMCL has the right to earn  
        up to 75% of the project on the satisfaction of minimum exploration expenditure commitments, and completion of a
        full feasibility study.



Further details of SRK's opinion on these projects are set out in part 2 of the
AIM Admission Document.



In addition to those discussed above, SMCL has acquired 40 PLs covering an area
of 4,400km(2) in what the Board considers to be some of the most prospective
areas of Tanzania. The majority (2,954km(2)) of this prospecting area is in the
Singida district, which is the location of recent and significant informal gold
mining activity. In addition, the Group has applied for a further 19 PLs
covering 2,624km(2).



The SMCL management team, which has extensive exploration and mining expertise
will now benefit from the advice of the Directors of Shanta, being individuals
who have experience at board level in mining companies. The Directors believe
that the combined skill set of the Board and management team will ensure that
the Group is well placed to recognise and exploit any opportunities available to
it within Tanzania, whilst at the same time ensuring shareholder interests are
considered and protected.



Commenting today George Bennett, CEO, of Shanta said: "Our core projects in
Tanzania have potential for significant production against the backdrop of a
strong gold price. Our aim is to drive forward exploration, establish commercial
viability of the projects and be in a position to construct and commission a
gold mine."



For more information:
Conduit PR                            W H Ireland Ltd                       Haywood Securities (UK) Ltd
MWB Building                          11 St. James's Square                 Ryder Court
78 Cannon Street                      Manchester                            14 Ryder Street
London EC4N 6NQ                       M2 6WH                                London SW1Y 6QB


Amanda Harris/ Laurence Read:         David Youngman:                       Jeremy Wrathall:
Tel: [phone]             Tel: [phone]                    Tel: [phone]
Mob: [phone]
[e-mail]                  [e-mail]       [e-mail]


Background

Tanzania

Tanzania, created by the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, is located in East
Africa and borders, amongst others, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. The union was
formalised in 1977 and in 1992 a multi-party system was introduced. Despite a
history of some violence the country has become much more stable since 1985.
From 1995, following the election of Benjamin William Mkapa, the country has
maintained a relatively stable political environment with policies promoting
human rights and non racial policies.



The economy reflects this stability and has progressed steadily since 1995 with
agriculture, tourism and mining all performing well. Mining is the fastest
growing sector in Tanzania in terms of its contributions to GDP and its share of
exports. This growth was assisted by the World Bank's guidance, in drawing up a
new mining policy for Tanzania in 1997 and investor-friendly mining law in 1998.
The Mining Act of 1998 in particular guarantees investors' security of tenure,
transparency in issuance and administration of mineral rights.



Gold mining has dominated the Tanzanian mining industry for more than a century.
Records of organised prospecting and mining date back to the German colonial
period with gold discoveries in the Lake Victoria Goldfield in 1895. Tanzania is
now Africa's third largest gold producing country after South Africa and Ghana.
Nonetheless, the country remains under explored in comparison with other gold
producers of its size and there is a high probability of future discoveries.



Directors of the Company

George Bennett, Chief Executive Officer, aged 44, is a member of the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange with 19 years experience as a stockbroker /
investment banker. He joined Menell, Jack Hyman, Rosenburg and Co in 1986 which
was taken over by Frankel Krug in 1988. Between 1988 and 1994 he was a partner
at various stockbroking firms including Fergusson, Bros Hall Stewart & Co.  In
1994, whilst a partner at Simpson McKie Inc, the firm was acquired by HSBC PLC
Securities (South Africa) (Pty) Limited. While at HSBC he held positions
including Head of International and Proprietary Trading, Head of Corporate Sales
and his last position was Head of Mining Research Sales. George resigned from
HSBC in May 2003.  He joined the Group in September 2004.



Walter Vorwerk, B. Com, Dip Datem, CA (SA), Chief Financial Officer, aged 54,
has had extensive executive and operational experience within the Southern
African mining industry and has held directorships of many industry-related
companies including Vaal Reefs Mining and Exploration Co. Limited (the precursor
to AngloGold Limited), Western Deep Levels Limited, Driefontein Consolidated
Limited and Rand Refining Limited. He was Manager of Finance at AngloGold from
1995 to 2002, where he oversaw and was involved in corporate finance, merger,
acquisition and disposal activities. He was the Finance Director of Aquarius
Platinum Limited from 2002 to 2003. He is involved in a corporate finance
practice in South Africa called Interstices (Pty) Limited helping small to
medium clients in his field of expertise by providing corporate finance services
to enable clients to achieve their commercial goals.

He joined the Group in April 2005.



Walton Imrie, Non Executive Chairman, aged 53, started his career in
stockbroking in South Africa in the early 1970's, and then took up employment
with Shaw & Co in London. He started an independent financial consultancy
business which eventually became the Swiss based asset management company,
Kestrel SA. He has been involved with gold mining and exploration through a
number of vehicles including Simmer and Jack Mines Limited and Southern
Prospecting (Pty) Limited. The latter company listed Randex and Potchefstroom
Gold Areas in 1980s in South Africa. Walton was a board member of Francistown
Mining Limited which became the Toronto and Sydney listed Lionore Mining
Limited. He is currently a director and shareholder of Pan African Mining (Pty)
Ltd, a Zimbabwean gold producer.



Richard Shead, BA CIS (SA), Non Executive Director, aged 52, was an executive
director of Oxus Gold, responsible for corporate development from 2003 to 2004,
prior to that he was chief executive officer of East Daggafontein Mines from
1997 to 2002. Richard has also been managing director of Southern Prospecting
Limited., a South African mineral exploration company and he has also worked
with Lydenburg Exploration Limited as managing director and Benguela Concessions
Limited as chief executive officer. He joined the Group in April 2005.



Ketan Patel, Non Executive Director, aged 38, attended schools and colleges in
Kenya, India and the United Kingdom. He worked extensively in trading
organisations in the UK and since 1986 has traded agro-commodities
internationally. He is a senior director of Export Trading (Pty) Ltd and is
managing director of the Sea Cliff and White Sands Hotels in Dar es Salaam. He
is also a director of Cielmac Ltd a property company in Tanzania.






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange