GOLD MINE DEVELOPMENT NEWS Samira Hill Pour Set for September

TIAWA, Niger As the Samira Hill project is being readied to pour its first gold bar in September 2004, co-owners SEMAFO of Montreal and ETRUSCAN RESOURCES of Windsor, N.S., report that activity both on and off site is ramping up. The civil contractor, Sogea-Satom, is fully mobilized and is presently carrying out the concrete work. Mill and crusher refurbishment is nearing completion in South Africa, and that equipment will be shipped to site later this month. The leach tanks are presently in transit from the United States and should be on site shortly. The elution plant was recently tested at the premises of Como Engineering in Perth, Australia, and will be disassembled and shipped to Niger within the coming weeks. Local contractors have been hired to upgrade housing and offices at the camp and to lay the raw water pipeline from the main reservoir to the plant. Upgrading of the main access road to the mine site is complete. The mining contract, worth US$44 million over seven years, has been awarded to BCM International.

Annual production from Samira Hill in the first year is forecast to be 135,000 oz of gold at a cash cost of US$177/oz. With current minable reserves of 10 million tonnes grading 2.21 g/t Au, the mine is expected to produce an average of 100,000 oz of gold per year at an average cash cost of US$203 per ounce.

More news and photos of Samira Hill are available at www.etruscan.com and www.semafo.com