July 3, 2002

News Release: Raises $7.6 Million through exercise of warrants.

Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. (the “Corporation”) is pleased to announce that that the Corporation has received gross proceeds of approximately $7.6 million through the exercise of 5,454,544 warrants issued as part of the Corporation’s December 10, 2001 private placement. This has resulted in the issuance of 1,818,180 flow-through common shares and 3,636,364 non flow-through common shares at a price of $1.40 per share. The 3,636,364 non flow-through common shares were issued to Ashton Canada Pty. Limited (“ACPL”), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Limited. With the completion of this transaction, ACPL now owns 33,848,221 common shares, bringing to 34,705,363 the total number of common shares of the Corporation beneficially owned by Rio Tinto Limited and Rio Tinto plc collectively. This represents 62.7 percent of the 55,366,859 common shares of the Corporation that are currently issued and outstanding.

For further information, please contact:

Ariel Bowers
Investor Relations
(604) 983-7750
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