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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mountain Lake Resources Ltd ( MOA) VSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Bourgeois who wrote (445)	10/11/2000 10:33:46 PM
From: peter dumbrille	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 598

WINDSOR, Nova Scotia & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2000--Etruscan Resources Inc. (TSE:EET. - news) and Mountain Lake Resources Inc. (CDNX:MOA. - news) jointly announced today the signing of an agreement to combine the two companies by exchanging 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Mountain Lake for shares of Etruscan at an exchange ratio of one common share of Etruscan for every two common shares of Mountain Lake. Following the share exchange, Mountain Lake shareholders will hold approximately 16% of Etruscan and there will be two Mountain Lake nominees on Etruscan's Board of Directors. The agreement with Mountain Lake is the first step in a plan of strategic acquisitions in Africa of advanced projects with significant near term production potential. Mountain Lake's core assets are 7 diamond concessions in the Ventersdorp district located some 150 kilometers west of Johannesburg in South Africa. The diamonds occur in a series of alluvial gravel deposits that extend for distances in excess of 12 kilometers with widths of up to 1,000 meters. These alluvial diamond deposits can produce exceptionally large stones. Historic small scale production from the Mountain Lake deposits has yielded in excess of 50,000 carats with individual diamonds weighing up to 19 carats. Previous exploration programs completed by Mountain Lake and Ashton Mining (Pty) Ltd. of Australia on just one of the deposits has indicated a resource of approximately 14.5 million tonnes of gravel with a historical average grade of 1.5 carats per 100 tonnes. Mountain Lake believes the potential resource on only three of the seven properties to be in excess of 50 million tonnes. Small scale diamond production is ongoing at two sites and is continuing to yield high quality diamonds. From the third Quarter 1999 to the end of September of this year a total of 2,121 diamonds weighing 2,612 carats were recovered in four of the seven concessions and were sold at an average price of $US397 per carat. This represents gross sales exceeding US$1 million. Mountain Lake also holds the CK Gold Property (383,000 ounce resource) in Wyoming, the Canagau base metal property in Ontario which is optioned to Falconbridge Limited, the Goodwin base metal property in New Brunswick, and the Valentine Lake Gold Project in Newfoundland where Mountain Lake has an option to acquire a 50% interest from Noranda Inc. Etruscan will immediately evaluate the economics of moving the Ventersdorp deposits into full scale production on the order of 2,000,000 tonnes per year. The remaining assets of Mountain Lake will be evaluated to determine the best means of enhancing shareholder value. Etruscan will have a 60-day period in which to complete its due diligence of Mountain Lake and the agreement is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals. Etruscan has recently been focused on the development of the Samira Gold Project in Niger. This project is being funded to production through an agreement with SEMAFO of Montreal and Managem of Morocco. The mine is scheduled to go into production in 2001 at a rate of 6,000 tonnes per day producing 150,000 ounces in the first year. Gerald McConnell, President and CEO of Etruscan and Allen Sheito, President and CEO of Mountain Lake jointly stated: ``This merger will bring together the best assets of both companies and result in a stronger position from which Etruscan will move forward with continued growth. Mountain Lake's properties and expertise in alluvial diamond production coupled with Etruscan's corporate and technical team will ensure that substantial cash flow is established from Ventersdorp in the near-term. We will engage South African diamond industry experts to assist in the evaluation and development of these properties.'' The common shares of Etruscan are traded on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ``EET''. The common shares of Mountain Lake are traded on The Canadian Venture Exchange under the symbol ``MOA''. No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the content of this release. More extensive information on Etruscan can be found on our home page at etruscan.com. Symbol: EET.T Symbol:MOA.CDNX