General Counsel and Company Secretary Appointed

MEDIA STATEMENT

7 January 2008

OceanaGold Appoints General Counsel and Company Secretary

OceanaGold Corporation today announced it has appointed Matthew Salthouse as its General Counsel and Company Secretary.

Matthew was previously Company Secretary and Legal Counsel at Drivetrain Systems International Pty Ltd a multi million dollar exporter of automotive components. Before joining Drivetrain, Matthew was employed as a Senior Associate at Chambers & Company where he consulted on various merger and acquisition matters for large scale mining and resource companies. He has also worked as a commercial lawyer and legal practitioner at Coles Myer, ION Limited, Herbert Smith and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University in Melbourne. He also holds a Graduate Diploma of Industrial Relations from Melbourne University and an Advanced Certificate – Business Analysis & Valuation from the London School of Economics.

OceanaGold’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Orr said “Matthew’s broad legal experience and familiarity with the mining industry will make a valuable contribution and strengthen OceanaGold’s executive management team.”

ENDS

About OceanaGold

OceanaGold currently operates in the South Island of New Zealand and in the Philippines. The Company’s assets include New Zealand’s largest gold mine at Macraes, a new mine in the Reefton Goldfield, and two development projects; the Frasers Underground Mine, scheduled for commissioning in early 2008, and the Didipio Gold-Copper Project in northern Luzon, Philippines scheduled for completion in early 2009. The Company expects to achieve gold production of approximately 500,000 gold equivalent ounces (AuEq) in 2009.

OceanaGold is listed on the Toronto, Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges under the symbol “OGC”.

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