| Western Keltic Mines Inc                                                WKM Shares issued 10,869,858                                 Oct 25 close $0.10
 Thu 26 Oct 2000                                                News Release
 See Rimfire Minerals Corp (RFM) News Release
 Mr. David Caulfield reports
 Drilling at  the  Boundary  zone  on  the  California-Surf  properties  has
 revealed   three   styles  of  gold  mineralization  and  shows  that  gold
 mineralization is more widespread than indicated by surface  sampling.  The
 highest  gold  values  are  hosted  in  one-centimetre  to  five-centimetre
 quartz-pyrite-pyrrhotite  veinlets  that  locally  contain   visible   gold
 intergrown  with bismuthinite (that is BND00-04: 147.1-147.6 metres * 24.26
 grams per tonne gold). Broader zones of elevated gold values are  found  in
 quartz-sericite   altered   or  sheared  gneiss  locally  cut  by  hairline
 quartz-pyrite-calcite stringers (that is BND00-01: 56.3-58.7 metres *  2.36
 g/t  gold). Less commonly, quartz-pyrite-bismithunite+/-arsenopyrite+/-gold
 veinlets occur in pegmatitic marginal phases of  granitic  dikes  (that  is
 BND00-04: 152.7-153.1 metres * 7.32 g/t gold).
 The California and Surf properties lie on the eastern extension of the Pogo
 trend,  in  east-central  Alaska, where Teck and Sumitomo have outlined the
 5.6-million-ounce  Pogo  gold  deposit.  Recent  work  by  Teck  has   also
 intersected   gold   mineralization   in  exploration  drilling  along  the
 13-kilometre Pogo trend. Four holes totalling 827.1 metres were drilled  at
 the  Boundary anomaly, one of five targets outlined to date on the combined
 properties.  The  holes  targeted  a  900-metre  by  300-metre  gold   soil
 geochemical anomaly centred on a 1,800-metre by 1,300-metre bismuth-arsenic
 soil anomaly. Within the confines of the soil  geochemical  anomaly,  float
 rock  samples  assayed  up  to 24.8 g/t (0.72 ounce per ton). The following
 table of core results illustrates the extensive area  of  quartz  stockwork
 gold mineralization.
 Summary of Drill Results
 Hole BND00-01
 
 >From      To     Width          Au
 (m)           (m)         (g/t)
 
 56.3     58.7      2.4          2.36
 59.9     60.1      0.2          5.24
 64.9     65.0      0.1         18.05*
 67.2     69.1      1.9          2.98
 Incl.
 67.2     67.5      0.3          5.46*
 and
 67.7     68.2      0.5          4.23
 and
 68.9     69.1      0.2          9.06*
 83.9     84.7      0.8          1.11
 Hole BND00-02
 
 >From      To     Width          Au
 (m)           (m)         (g/t)
 
 41.0     41.2      0.2          2.60
 87.4     87.5      0.1          1.12*
 99.8    100.2      0.4          2.63
 102.4    102.7      0.3          0.98
 131.1    131.3      0.2          3.98*
 Hole BND00-03
 
 No significant intersections.
 Hole BND00-04
 
 >From      To     Width          Au
 (m)           (m)         (g/t)
 
 65.4     66.0      0.6          1.24
 75.7     75.9      0.2          1.24
 79.5     79.8      0.3          1.05
 81.2     81.5      0.3          1.53
 94.4     96.2      1.8          1.31
 96.0     96.2      0.2          9.65
 131.4    131.5      0.1          1.32
 147.1    147.6      0.5         24.26*
 152.7    153.1      0.4          7.32
 218.0    218.2      0.2          3.81
 222.4    222.7      0.3          3.37
 224.4    224.5      0.1         35.24*
 240.5    242.5      2.0          0.97
 Note: * indicates visible gold.
 All samples were analyzed at ALS Chemex in North  Vancouver.  Samples  with
 greater  than  1.0  g/t  gold  were resubmitted for screen metallics assay.
 Blank and  duplicate  samples  were  inserted  into  the  sample  shipments
 submitted  to  the  lab. Mark Baknes, PGeo, managed the program on-site and
 supervised all sampling and core handling procedures.
 David Caulfield, chief executive officer of Rimfire,  and  Donald  McInnes,
 CEO  of  Western  Keltic state: "We are very encouraged by the discovery of
 visible gold in three of the first four holes drilled on the property. More
 importantly,    strong    comparisons    can    be    made    between   the
 bismuthinite-visible gold mineralization at the Boundary  anomaly  and  the
 Pogo  deposit  itself.  The  strong  gold-bismuth  correlation,  associated
 alteration  and  gold-bearing  pegmatitic  granite  indicate  a  geological
 setting  not  unlike  the Liese zone at Pogo. We believe the mineralization
 intersected to date, while  encouraging,  is  peripheral  to  our  ultimate
 target  and  would  be  analogous  to  the narrow gold-bearing quartz veins
 peripheral to the ore zones at Pogo."
 Exploration on the California-Surf properties is financed by  Barrick  Gold
 Corporation  through  a  financing agreement with Western Keltic. The field
 camp and drill have been left on site  in  anticipation  of  drilling  next
 year.
 |