Further to the announcements made on 24th November and 27th October 2009 concerning the formal application for a new mining licence to mine below the 1300 level at Caijiaying, Griffin Mining Ltd ("Griffin" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has been informed that the Ministry of Land and Resources ("MLR") has accepted the supplemental information provided in support of the new mining licence application.

Unfortunately, although the suspension of the 28 working day period for the application for a new licence has been lifted, the suspension was lifted too late for the licence application to be considered at the December meeting of the "combined examination committee" of 8 departments of the MLR. The next expected meeting of the MLR combined committee is now expected to be held immediately prior to the Chinese new year in February 2010. As a result, approval of the mining licence application to mine below the 1300 level is not now expected until this time.