Oceanagold Raises A Further A$30 Million

MEDIA RELEASE 22 December 2006

Oceanagold Raises A Further A$30 Million Of Committed Funding

OceanaGold today announced a commitment by Goldman Sachs Asia Finance (“Goldman Sachs”) to subscribe for A$30 million in convertible notes. Together with the A$70 million in convertible notes and the NZ$45 million bank project debt facility announced on 19 December 2006, OceanaGold now has A$140 million of committed funding for project development in the Philippines and New Zealand.

The convertible note issue to Goldman Sachs is subject to final documentation, all regulatory approvals and approval by OceanaGold shareholders at a meeting to be convened early in 2007.

The convertible notes will have a seven year life, a coupon of 7% per annum, are immediately convertible at A$0.86 per share and are otherwise on the same terms as the A$70 million of notes to be issued to Ospraie and Milennium. A summary of those terms were included with the announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange on 19 December 2006.

The funds from the convertible note issue will be used for the development of the Didipio gold-copper project in Northern Luzon in the Philippines. Construction activities are expected to start at the beginning of 2007 with project commissioning scheduled for the beginning of 2009.

The Didipio deposit currently contains 1.6 million ounces of gold and 200 thousand tonnes of copper in proven and probable reserves as part of a total resource of 3.8 million ounces of gold and 500 thousand tonnes of copper. The project will produce on average about 130 thousand ounces of gold and 20 thousand tonnes of copper per annum and currently has a fifteen year life.

“It is very pleasing to have an investor of Goldman Sachs standing, commit to invest in OceanaGold. It is further evidence of the support for the development of the Didipio Project in the Philippines” said OceanaGold’s CEO Stephen Orr.
Background on OceanaGold

OceanaGold currently operates in the South Island of New Zealand and the Philippines. The company’s assets include New Zealand’s largest gold mine at Macraes, a new mine development in the Reefton Goldfield, an additional mine development called the Frasers Underground in the Macraes Goldfield and the Didipio Gold-Copper project in the Philippines.

The recent merger of Oceana Gold Limited with Climax Mining Ltd capitalises the company at approximately A$450 million with forecast gold production of over 550,000 gold equivalent ounces (AuEq) by 2009.

The Didipio Gold Project is a gold-copper porphyry deposit that is expected to be commissioned by the beginning of 2009. The proposed development comprises four years of open cut mining, followed by at least 11 years of underground sub-level caving operations, totaling an expected minimum 15 years of life with further deposit expansion potential. The Project is designed for a throughput of two million tonnes of ore per annum. Annual metal production will average approximately 227,000 Au Eq in the first ten years of production.

ENDS

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