Ampella Mining Ltd. : Ampella's Response to Corporate Interest and Executive Management Change

ASX / MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT 2 April 2012 AMPELLA'S RESPONSE TO CORPORATE INTEREST AND EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT CHANGE

In the December 2011 Quarterly Report, Ampella announced that it had appointed Macquarie Capital and Gresham Advisory Partners to provide advice on all options to enhance returns to shareholders and respond to proposals that may be received from time to time. This followed approaches from a number of leading gold companies seeking access to due diligence in order to develop proposals for the Ampella Board to consider.
To date, no party has been provided with access to non-public information.
With the recently completed capital raising, Ampella now has approximately $55 million in cash and is fully funded to pursue its programme of exploration and development work planned for the next 12 -
18 months. This includes the regional exploration programme the subject of an announcement earlier
today.

Response to Corporate Interest

In recent weeks, Ampella has received further expressions of interest and requests for access to due diligence from other gold companies. Rather than continue to deal with these requests on an ad hoc basis, the Ampella Board has resolved to instruct its financial and legal advisers to undertake a targeted process to test whether any party with an interest in Ampella is willing to put forward a proposal which is attractive enough to win the unanimous support of the Ampella Board.
The Chairman of Ampella, Peter Mansell said:

"With our strong balance sheet, Ampella is now very well placed to continue down its current path and in the absence of a compelling alternative that is what we intend to do. Having said that, we have had approaches from serious global players in the gold sector and we concluded that we had a duty to all shareholders to properly test whether any one of those parties is prepared to make an offer to acquire Ampella on terms that would be attractive to our shareholders."

"Ampella is in a rapid growth phase and we did not want our board and management team distracted by a number of separate approaches. We therefore instructed our advisers to run a targeted process as quickly as possible to test the level of corporate interest. If we receive a proposal that is sufficiently attractive to recommend to shareholders we will move forward with it. If we do not, we will shut down further discussions and move forward aggressively with our exploration and development programme."

Ampella does not intend to provide further information about the status of discussions with third parties until such time as a final position is known. This is likely to take 2-3 months.
www.ampella.com.au

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PO Box 352 Subiaco WA 6904

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[e-mail] Executive Management Change

Ampella also announces that Evan Cranston, Executive Director - Corporate, has advised that he will be resigning to pursue other personal business interests.
Mr Cranston said:

"I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 3 years taking Ampella from a micro-cap junior to where it is today. However I have now decided that it is time to spend more time on my other business interests. Having managed the recent capital raising, I know I am leaving the Board and management team in a very strong position to grow the Company for the benefit of all shareholders. Ampella is now funded to enter into an exciting stage of the Company's development and I am supportive of the Board and the future direction of the Company."

The Board of Ampella wishes to formally record its appreciation on behalf of all shareholders for the contribution that Evan has made to the success of Ampella. Evan over the last 3 years in his role as Corporate Director for Ampella has been instrumental in the growth of Ampella and we wish him every success in his future endeavours.

For further information, please contact: Dr Paul Kitto - Managing Director: [phone] Michael Ashforth - Executive Director, Macquarie Capital: [phone] Justin Mannolini - Managing Director, Gresham Advisory Partners: [phone]

Website: www.ampella.com.au

Ampella is a gold exploration and mine development company with a mission to acquire, explore, develop and mine high quality mineral assets resulting in wealth creation through efficient and responsible stewardship of its resources for the benefit of shareholders and other stakeholders in the West African country of Burkina Faso, one of the world's fastest growing gold producing regions. Ampella's management team, with over 80 years African experience, is solely focused on developing the Konkera Resource and exploring a pipeline of high quality gold prospects across its Batie West Project.

www.ampella.com.au