Drilling confirms copper-gold at Afton (May 19, 2003)

Vancouver — DRC Resources (DRC-T) has tabled results from two infill holes drilled at its Afton copper project, near Kamloops, B.C.

The two holes were collared near previous hole 2K01-49 and are part of a program designed to precede an updated resource calculation and prefeasibility study. The study will focus on the mineral resource, mining methods, mineral processing, and permitting, as well as estimate the capital and operating costs associated with the potential development of an underground mine.

The copper-gold mineralization has been traced over a strike length of 1 km, and it remains open beyond the indicated mineral resource boundaries to the northeast and southwest. The infill work has confirmed the continuity of the grade. Highlights are as follows:

— Hole 2K03-77 cut 218 metres averaging 1.57% copper, 1.36 grams gold, 0.16 gram palladium and 2.53 grams silver per tonne starting at a down-hole depth of 298 metres. This included a 126-metre section that averaged 1.72% copper, 1.46 grams gold, 0.21 gram palladium and 2.84 grams silver per tonne starting at 390 metres down-hole.

— Hole 2K02-78 cut 354 metres averaging 1.62% copper, 1.32 grams gold, 0.14 gram palladium and 2.24 grams silver starting at 274 metres down-hole. This included a 206-metre section that averaged 2.12% copper, 1.64 grams gold, 0.16 gram palladium and 2.71 grams silver starting at 422 metres down-hole.

Mineralization is hosted in a steeply plunging body that strikes southwest from the base of the 274-metre-deep open-pit. This structure, known as the Main zone, averages 70 metres wide, 600 metres long and about 775 metres deep. In addition to it, DRC has delineated the Northeast Extension zone, which measures 30 metres wide and is an en echelon continuation of the Main zone.

The Main zone has an indicated resource of about 34.3 million tonnes grading 1.55% copper plus 1.14 grams gold, 0.125 gram palladium and 3.42 grams silver per tonne, whereas the Northeast Extension zone has an indicated resource of 1.1 million tonnes averaging 1.02% copper, 0.86 gram gold, 0.1 gram palladium and 5.49 grams silver. A cutoff grade of 0.5% copper was used for these calculations.

The Afton deposit is in the 35-km-long Iron Mask batholith at the northwestern end of the Iron Mask pluton. These intrusive rocks consist of Triassic-aged diorites and gabbros hosted in andesitic and basaltic rocks breccias, tuffs, mudstones argillites and limestones of the Nicola group.