OJSC Polymetal is pleased to announce that two new members have been elected to the Company’s Board of Directors.

Two new directors — Jonathan Best and Pavel Gratchev — were elected to Polymetal’s Board yesterday by the Company’s sole shareholder, Nafta Moskva.

Jonathan Best, an independent member of the Board, previously served as the interim CEO of Trans Siberian Gold and prior to that was the CFO of AngloGold Ashanti from 1997-2005. Mr. Best will serve as chairman of the Board’s audit committee.

Pavel Gratchev is the chief legal counsel and managing director of Nafta Moskva. Prior to joining Nafta Moskva, he worked as the managing partner and director of the Moscow office of Pavia e Ansaldo, an Italian law firm.

With these two additions, Polymetal’s Board currently consists of seven members. The five existing members of the Board — Chairman Alexander Mosionzhik, Vitaly Nesis (Polymetal CEO), Anton Averin, Andrei Rodionov and Nikolai Belykh — were reappointed by the Company’s sole shareholder yesterday.

Commenting on the announcement, Vitaly Nesis, Polymetal CEO, stated: “We are pleased to welcome the two new members to our Board of Directors. We believe that Mr. Best’s outstanding track record within the metals and mining industry and Mr. Gratchev’s strong experience in the legal profession will further strengthen our Board. In addition, having an independent director is an important step and a necessary component of best practice corporate governance standards.”

Source: the official web-site of the company.