Merko Ehitus                  NEWS RELEASE                      09/04/2003



LAND-MINING PERMISSION



Estonian Ministry of the Environment issued a land-mining permission to

OÜ Merko Kaevandused on August 18, 2003 including the following:



Name of the find:      oil-shale find in Estonia 

Name of the mine:      Narva oil-shale mine II

Place:                 County of Ida-Viru, district of Illuka 

Area:                  544.11 hectares

Object:                oil-shale, 16 653 thousand tons

Range of use:          fuel and raw material for chemical industry

Annual production:     max 1 000 thousand tons

                       min.  400 thousand tons

                       Time limit for the minimum

                       annual production: 2 years

Validity period:       August 15, 2028



OÜ Merko Kaevandused has started negotiations regarding the terms of

purchase of the necessary machinery and use of infrastructure and

mining technology for oil-shale mining.

Further information regarding oil-shale mining projects will be

provided as necessary.





Marko Pern

Financist

+372 6 805 130