June 11, 2002

News Release: RENARD 2 MINI-BULK SAMPLE RETURNS VERY ENCOURAGING

Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. (“Ashton”), is pleased to report that the estimated diamond content of a 2.44 tonne mini-bulk sample collected from the Renard 2 kimberlitic body in north-central Quebec is 69.3 carats per hundred tonnes. Renard 2 is situated on the 153,000 hectare Foxtrot property in the Otish Mountains region where Ashton and its joint venture partner, SOQUEM INC. (“SOQUEM”), currently hold more than 250,000 hectares of mineral permits. The Foxtrot property also hosts the other five Renard kimberlitic bodies discovered by the joint venture during its 2001 and 2002 field programs. Renard 2 was discovered in late 2001 by drilling a geophysical anomaly. As reported on December 17 of that year, the initial microdiamond results from Renard 2 were encouraging. The 2.44 tonne mini-bulk sample was collected from Renard 2 in March 2002 by drilling four core holes, each 4.76 cm in diameter. The first hole, R2-03, was drilled from northwest of Renard 2 to the southeast. R2-04, the second hole, was drilled from southwest of the body to the northeast. The third and fourth holes, R2-05 and R2-06, were drilled at the approximate centre of
the geophysical anomaly from the same setup.

The intersections for the four drill holes are summarized in the following table

                              Drill Intersections (metres)
Drill       Azimuth / Angle from                                   Kimberlitic
Hole        Horizontal (degrees)    Overburden    Country Rock   Breccia (Note 1)     

R2-03            108 / 50             0 - 18   18 - 65; 164 - 212    65 - 164
R2-04             57 / 50             0 - 17   17 - 71; 170 - 201    71 - 170
R2-05              0 / 90             0 - 21        Nil              21 - 225
R2-06            360 / 85             0 - 19        Nil              19 - 180

Note 1 - The 2.44 tonne sample is composed of the material from these intervals, which include several intersections of hypabyssal facies and country rock material.

At surface, the Renard 2 geophysical anomaly is approximately 150 metres long and 100 metres wide. The drill data suggest, that at a vertical depth of approximately 80 metres, the body has a maximum width of 65 metres.

After processing through the dense media separation plant at Ashton’s North Vancouver laboratory, the sample yielded a total of 1.69 carats of diamonds larger than 0.8 mm using a square aperture screen. The five largest diamonds range in size from 0.10 to 0.16 carats and include both single and composite crystals. Two of these stones are colorless; the others are pale yellow or pale brown. These results give the sample an estimated diamond content of 69.3 carats
per hundred tonnes. An accurate estimate of grade will require the collection of larger, more representative samples.

The joint venture continues to be very encouraged by the results from Renard 2. They demonstrate the need for further work including additional delineation drilling and the collection of a larger sample. The exact nature and timing of this work will be determined after completion of detailed analysis of the present data over the next six to eight weeks.

As announced on March 28 and April 9 of this year, the Renard 3, 4, 5 and 6 kimberlitic intrusions were discovered during the winter 2002 program by drilling geophysical anomalies detected on the Foxtrot property. Core samples from these bodies are currently undergoing microdiamond analysis at Ashton’s North Vancouver laboratory and results are expected shortly. SOQUEM and Ashton have been exploring for diamonds in Quebec since 1996 in a 50:50 joint venture that currently holds more than 380,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral permits. SOQUEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGF Minerals Inc., a subsidiary of Société Générale de Financement du Québec (“SGF”). The mission of the SGF is to carry out economic development projects in cooperation with partners and in accordance with accepted requirements of profitability.

Ashton is the operator of the exploration programs and Brooke Clements, Professional Geologist
and Ashton’s Vice President, Exploration, is responsible for their design and conduct and the verification and quality assurance of analytical results.

For further information, please contact:
Robert T. Boyd -or- Ariel Bowers -or- visit our website:
President and CEO Investor Relations www.ashton.ca
(604) 983-7750 (604) 983-7750 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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