Adelaide, Feb 5, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The appetite by Australian equity markets for uranium plays continues unabated with an underwriting agreement announced by Southern Gold Limited (ASX: SAU) today for its A$14 million uranium spin-off.

Up to A$10 million of the Initial Public Offer for the spin-off vehicle, Southern Uranium Limited, will be jointly underwritten by Taylor Collison Limited and Lands Kirwan Tong Stockbrokers Pty Limited.

"These two broking houses were joint underwriters for the successful Toro Energy Limited uranium IPO in 2006 and have a strong appreciation of the current market sentiment towards capital raisings by pure uranium explorers," Southern Gold Managing Director, Mr Stephen Biggins, said today.

"The underwriting agreement is a significant vote of confidence in Southern Uranium's prospects in the marketplace, the calibre of the Company's suite of exploration assets and its forward exploration program," Mr Biggins said.

"Many junior resources floats in the past 12 months have not benefited from underwriting support but on today's announcement, Southern Uranium can already start planning to implement its exploration strategies on a 'soonest possible' timeframe," he said.

The Southern Uranium IPO is expected to open later this month with the listing of the shares on the ASX in March. The new explorer plans to issue up to 70 million ordinary shares to raise A$14 million, with A$10 million of that figure reserved for Southern Gold shareholders.

Southern Gold will retain 39% equity (45 million shares) of the total of 115 million shares to be on issue at listing.

Southern Uranium's assets cover 20 uranium tenements over 10,000 km2 within an arc of the Gawler Craton in South Australia.