Barrick antes up for 2003 RDN exploration

Vancouver, —Rimfire Minerals (RFM-V) reports that Barrick Gold (ABX-T) will participate in the 2003 RDN property exploration program.

Rimfire’s RDN property is situated in northwest British Columbia and is comprised of rocks that are similar in age, composition, alteration and mineralization to that of Barrick’s Eskay Creek deposit (40 km to the southwest) which hosts 1.2 million tonnes averaging 40.4 grams gold per tonne, 1,855 grams silver per tonne.

Previous work on the property has identified a number of target areas that host gold-arsenic plus or minus silver, copper, lead, and zinc soil geochemistry anomalies. These targets host gold-bearing footwall feeder-style quartz-sulphide veining.

Rimfire states that the 2003 program will focus on drill testing priority targets defined over the last three years.

Barrick is earning a 75% interest in the property by making annual cash payments of $25,000 and performing $1.5 million in exploration by December 31, 2005. Once vested, Barrick must fund annual exploration programs (at a rate of at least $500,000 per year) until a positive decision to develop a mine has been reached.

Rimfire Minerals has six active projects; two with AngloGold (AU-N) in Alaska and four in British Columbia with Barrick Gold, First Au Strategies (FAV-V), Stikine Gold and Plutonic Capital.