Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited Makes Announcement

10:41 a.m. Jan 10, 2000 Eastern

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2000--Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited ("Ashanti" or the "Company") confirms that it has been served with proceedings instituted in the Ghanaian High Court by four of its shareholders led by Adryx Mining and Metals Limited. These shareholders (who together hold approximately 4.2 per cent. of Ashanti's current issued ordinary share capital) are seeking a court order, inter alia : - convening an extraordinary general meeting of Ashanti to propose

resolutions for (i) the election of a new Board of Directors and

removal of the existing Board of Directors; and (ii) seeking

authority to permit the sale of all, any or part of the Company's

interest in its mining assets; and - in the meantime, restraining the existing Directors of Ashanti

from entering into any agreement, contract or understanding which

may impair or substantially reduce the ability of any new Board

which may be elected at the above mentioned extraordinary general

meeting to deal with the Company's affairs as it might otherwise

chose.

Ashanti intends to vigorously defend these proceedings. The Ghanaian High Court will consider the proceedings in the first instance on Thursday, 13 January 2000. A further announcement will be made in due course.

One element of the above mentioned proceedings is an order "to permit the sale of all, any or part of the Company's interest in its mining assets". Ashanti has already commenced discussions with a number of international gold mining companies which have expressed an interest in acquiring a joint venture interest in its Geita Project in Tanzania. Site visits have already been undertaken by a number of those interested parties. The Government of Ghana has been informed of these discussions and has indicated its support for this course of action.

In due course, in the event that the above mentioned discussions lead to an agreement to sell an interest in the Geita Project, the Company, in accordance with usual London Stock Exchange requirements, will inform shareholders of the full details of any proposed sale by way of a circular and seek their approval at an extraordinary general meeting.

Negotiations are continuing with Ashanti's lending banks regarding its ongoing working capital requirements, including the financing required to complete its Geita Project. It is intended that a substantial proportion of the proceeds of a sale of an interest in the Geita Project would be used to repay debt. The Company requires the agreement of its lending banks to continue their existing funding as well as to provide new funding in order to complete the Geita Project. The Company expects to be in a position to make a further announcement on its financing arrangements within the course of the next week.

Certain of the statements made in this announcement are forward looking in nature. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements made in this announcement. In addition, risk factors relating to Ashanti can be found in its public SEC filings.