50NT Hsbc Bk. 25

RNS Number:4981K
Ashanti Goldfields Company Ld
12 May 2000

ASHANTI GOLDFIELDS COMPANY LIMITED ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF PIONEER GOLDFIELDS
LIMITED

Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited ("Ashanti") is pleased to announce that its
wholly owned subsidiary, Ashanti Goldfields Teberebie Limited ("AGTL"), has
reached agreement with Pioneer Group, Inc ("Pioneer") on the acquisition ("the
Acquisition") of a 100% interest in Pioneer Goldfields Limited ("PGL") from
Pioneer Goldfields II Limited ("PGL II"), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Pioneer.

PGL's principal asset is its 90% interest in Teberebie Goldfields Limited
("TGL"), which in turn owns 100% of the Teberebie gold mine located in Ghana,
West Africa.  Through the Acquisition, Ashanti acquires the Teberebie gold
mine, which is located adjacent to Ashanti's Iduapriem gold mine. The
Iduapriem mine is 100% owned by Ghanaian-Australian Goldfields Limited
("GAG"), which is 80% owned by Ashanti and 20% owned by the International
Finance Corporation.

The acquisition of the Teberebie mine will result in an increase to the
Group's ore reserves of at least 1.6 million ounces.  This will have the
effect of extending the Iduapriem mine's life by approximately eight years at
a production rate of over 150,000 ounces per year at a cash operating cost of
around US$200 per ounce.

In addition, the Acquisition will have the benefit of reducing, as well as
deferring for approximately eight years, the cash outlay involved in closing
down the Iduapriem mine.   Finally, the acquisition of the Teberebie mine will
result in continued employment of the Iduapriem mine's current workforce.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ashanti will make an initial cash payment of
US$5 million at closing and a deferred consideration of US$13.8 million
payable over five years.  The terms of the agreement also include the
potential for contingent consideration cash payments of up to US$5 million
dependent upon minimum gold prices and production levels.

Commenting on the transaction, Sam E. Jonah, Ashanti's Chief Executive said,
"the acquisition of the Teberebie  gold mine transforms a mine slated for
shutdown next year  into a long life mine with competitive operating costs.   
Acquiring Teberebie contributes to meeting Ashanti's objective of maintaining
annual production at approximately 1.6 million ounces for the next ten years."

In a related transaction, Ashanti has also reached agreement in principle with
Gold Fields Ghana Limited ("Gold Fields"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Gold
Fields Limited of South Africa, to on-sell certain assets of TGL including the
Teberebie mine's north pit and gyratory crusher.

Joint Venture
Prior to the Acquisition, the Iduapriem mine had been scheduled for closure in
mid-2001 when the currently economic ore would have been fully mined out. Upon
completion of the Acquisition, Ashanti intends that GAG and TGL will create an
unincorporated joint venture (the "Joint Venture") whereby higher grade
Teberebie ore will be trucked three kilometres to Iduapriem's Carbon-In-Leach
(CIL) plant for processing.

Under the Joint Venture agreement TGL would contribute the Teberebie ore body
and associated assets and GAG would contribute the Iduapriem CIL plant and
associated infrastructure that would process the Teberebie ore. PGL has
already laid off all employees and removed their mining equipment. GAG will
therefore use its current workforce and mining contractor to mine and manage
the combined operation.

Financing of the Acquisition
The initial cash payment of US$5 million will be financed out of GAG's cash
resources as well as from the proceeds of the sale of certain assets of TGL to
Gold Fields.  The deferred and contingent portions of the consideration will
be financed out of the cash flows of the Joint Venture.

The deferred consideration of US$13.8 million is payable as follows:  two
payments of US$2.5 million in each of March 2001 and 2002, US$3.0 million in
March 2003, US$3.75 million in March 2004 and US$2.05 million in March 2005.

As part of the Acquisition, Ashanti is providing a guarantee of up to US$7
million in respect of the total consideration payable by AGTL to PGL II.

Other details and conditions of the Acquisition
As at 1 May 2000, GAG had outstanding approximately US$25.7 million of overdue
non-recourse, third party debt and approximately US$21.0 million of Ashanti
inter-company debt. At the same date, TGL had an outstanding US$8.25 million
loan from Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB ("SEB"). These outstanding debts
will be restructured so as to enable the Joint Venture to finance the
consideration for the acquisition of PGL.

All necessary regulatory approvals for the Acquisition have been obtained. The
Acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and Ashanti expects
completion by the end of May.

NOTES TO EDITORS
Ashanti
Ashanti is an African-based international gold mining and exploration group
with six producing mines in three African countries, Ghana, Guinea and
Zimbabwe.  A seventh mine, the Geita mine, is expected to be operational by
June 2000 in Tanzania.  The company has twenty-five active exploration
projects in six African countries and has 37 million ounces of measured and
indicated gold resources. In 1999, Ashanti produced 1.56 million ounces.

Information on PGL and TGL
In addition to Teberebie Goldfields Limited, PGL holds the Nangodi prospecting
licence, which is adjacent to the Ghana/Burkina Faso border, and the Deba
exploration permit in Niger. PGL's net assets as at 31st December 1999 were
negative US$4.0 million and the company incurred a net loss of US$1.2 million
in 1999.  PGL did not consolidate the results of TGL operations in its 1999
financial statements.

TGL's Teberebie mine was developed by PGL as an open pit heap leach operation
to process ore from the now depleted oxidised section of the deposit. The
relatively high grade Teberebie resource that remains contains approximately 4
million ounces and is optimally suited to the use of milling and leaching
processing technology.  The Teberebie property lies immediately to the north
of Ashanti's Iduapriem  mine, which operates a 2.8 million tonnes per annum
CIL processing plant as well as an open pit mine. TGL's net assets as at 31st
December 1999 were US$38.4 million and the company incurred a net loss in 1999
of US$20.3 million.

Advisors
N.M. Rothschild & Sons acted as sole advisor to Ashanti in respect of the
Acquisition.

Enquiries:

Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. 

Kweku Awotwi, MD Investor Relations 233-21-772331
James Anaman, MD Public Affairs 233-21-778178
Ernest Abankroh, Company Secretary 233-21-774977

Consultants:
4C Communications, London
Carina Corbett
44 (0)20 89497171
 
Golin/Harris, New York 
Allan Jordan
1-212-697 9191
 

Certain of the statements made in this announcement are forward-looking in
nature.  By their nature, the forward-looking statements involve risk and
uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that
will occur in the future. These factors include, but are not limited to,
statements made elsewhere in this announcement.  In addition, risk factors
relating to Ashanti can be found in its public SEC filings.  Ashanti
undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  Any
statement should be evaluated in the light of these factors.





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