Centamin plc Board Appointment

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 17, 2012) - Centamin plc ("Centamin" or the "Company") (TSX:CEE)(LSE:CEY), the Arabian-Nubian Shield focused gold mining group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Kevin Tomlinson as an independent non-executive director.

Mr Tomlinson (age 51) was previously Managing Director of Investment Banking at Westwind Partners/Stifel Nicolaus Weisel, a US, Canadian and UK full-service broker, where he advised a number of gold, base metal and nickel companies, including Centamin. Prior to that he was the Director of Natural Resources at Williams de Broë, a London-based broker, and Head of Research for the Australian broking, corporate finance and research house, Hartley's Ltd.

Mr Tomlinson holds a Master of Science degree in Geology from the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. He began his career as a geologist 30 years ago and has worked with various Australian and Canadian-based natural resources companies, including Austminex N.L, where he held the position of Chief Executive Officer, and Plutonic Resources Limited, where he was Exploration Manager. In addition, he was Non-Executive Chairman of the ASX, AIM and TSX-listed Philippines gold producer, Medusa Mining Limited, from October 2005 to January 2010 and the Non-Executive Chairman of Dragon Mountain Gold, an ASX-listed Chinese gold explorer and developer, from January 2006 to October 2008. Mr Tomlinson is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. He has not held any other directorships in public companies during the previous five years and does not currently hold any shares in Centamin. There are no other details to disclose under paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules of the London Stock Exchange.

Josef El-Raghy, Chairman of Centamin, commented: "We are very pleased to welcome Kevin to the Board. His background in geology and extensive experience in corporate finance will further strengthen the Centamin Board and support our growth strategy."