Civil Society Organisations Concerns on the Statement by Mr. John Borshoff, Managing Director Paladi

Civil Society Organisations Concerns on the Statement by Mr. John Borshoff, Managing Director Paladin Resources Australia

Joint Press Statement issued

3rd July 2007

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation- (CHRR) Citizen for Justice - (CFJ) Foundation for Community Services - (FOCUS) Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace – (CCJP, Mzuzu) Church and Society – Livingstonia Synod Uraha Foundation- (UF)

Following serious concerns arising from the comments and reported in FORBES ONLINE / MiningNews.net and attributed to Mr. John Borshoff the Managing Director of Paladin Resources, Australia , the parent company of Paladin Africa Limited we the undersigned wish to state:

Paladin Resources should take note that the Civil Society Organisations, at the request of the Members of Parliament for all the constituencies in Karonga District had in good faith agreed to engage with Paladin and the Government, to reach a just and equitable resolution whilst deferring the legal proceedings.

The paramount concern which the Civil Society Organisations wish Paladin to address is to fully ensure that the health, safety and welfare concerns arising from the mining of uranium which is a highly radio active mineral are fully addressed in the interest of the people of Karonga and Chitipa Districts and Malawi as a whole.

Additionally the Civil Society Organisations realising that the uranium ore deposits at Kayelekera which Paladin proposes to exploit represent a value of no less then United states Dollars 35 billion and are also concerned to ensure that the people of Karonga and Chitipa District and Malawi as a whole receive equitable benefit in terms of financial returns and development from the Kayeleraka project.

The Civil Society Organisations would like to reiterate that we are not against the development by Paladin or any other bonafide investor of a mine at Kayelekera, which is what Paladin claims. We do however insist that the health, safety and welfare of the people of Karonga and Chitipa District and Malawi as a whole and of our country's environment should not be set aside to facilitate the development of Kayelekera by taking short cuts. We insist that Paladin or any other investor should fully address our concerns on health, safety and welfare and that Paladin ensures that Malawi receives an equitable return for its mineral wealth.

In this regard we note that the issues covered by the Developmental Plan (Agreement) and the agreements on Fiscal are secret and have not been disclosed by the signatories to Malawians. This is totally incompatible with the transparency and accountability which should prevail in the democratic era when the government in office proclaims its commitment to zero tolerance on corruption and causes one to see shadows of corruption in the handing of the secret agreements and the activities of Paladin.

We therefore wish to state and for Paladin to know quite categorically that in addition to pursuing the matter in Court, the Civic Society Organisations now intend to address our concerns to the financial institutions who are funding Paladin's project at Kayelekera and also to the institutional shareholders holding equity in Paladin Resources Australia. We shall also address our concerns to sister Organisations in Australia and Namibia . Paladin Resources should have been more responsive to the concerns of the Civil Society as a publicly trading company on the Australian, Canadian and German Stock Exchange.

We totally disagree with Paladin as reportedly stated that the development work at Kayelekera will continue even without addressing the concerns that have been raised by the civil society in Malawi . The Civic Society Organizations believe such statements will deprive the initiatives of the honorable representatives of a cordial and peaceful resolution to the court case.

We firmly believe that Mr. John Borshoff by making the remarks reported by FORBES ONLINE and or Miningnews.Net will serve to further delay the development of the Kayeleraka project as it does not reflect Paladin's commitment to a resolution be addressing our concerns on the health and safety issues and to ensure that Malawi receives an equitable return for its mineral wealth.

Lastly we have no regrets that such remarks by John Borshoff will only bring facets on the peaceful process of round table discussions to resolve issues outside court which is of more benefits to Paladin than to the Malawian people.

Endorsed by:
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation- (CHRR) Citizen for Justice - (CFJ) Foundation for Community Services - (FOCUS) Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace – (CCJP, Mzuzu) Church and Society – Livingstonia Synod Uraha Foundation- (UF)

Lilongwe - Malawi

Released on 3rd July, 2007