Eagle Plains Acquires Acacia VMS Property, South-Central BC

Cranbrook, B.C.: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:CDNX) is pleased to announce that the Company has recently completed staking within a mineralized belt of rocks considered to have high potential for hosting Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposits. These deposits typically contain both base and precious metals, and occur in clusters and/or stacked lenses.

The Acacia Property is located on the Adams Plateau area of British Columbia within the Kamloops Mining Division, approximately 45km northeast of Kamloops. The 203 unit (12,000 acre) claim group covers a stratigraphic package which hosts a number of nearby past-producing base and precious metal deposits including the Samatosum, Rea Gold, and Homestake mines. Work by past operators indicates that the Acacia property contains well-developed volcanogenic massive sulphide type mineralization and alteration hosted by the Eagle Bay metasedimentary and metavolcanic package. The property has at least three known target areas:

Adjacent to the northern part of the property in the area of the historical Twin showings, massive sulphide mineralization is associated with a series of stacked sulphide lenses hosted by metamorphosed volcanics. This horizon is believed to be the strike extension of the zone that hosts the Rea Gold deposit located approximately 1 kilometer north of the northern Acacia Claim boundary. The Rea deposit had a reserve of 376,000 tonnes of 6.1 grams per tonne gold, 69.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.33 per cent copper, 2.2 per cent lead and 2.3 per cent zinc within two volcanogenic massive sulphide lenses (Northern Miner, Nov. 30, 1987). Diamond drilling in the area of the Twin Showings by Esso Minerals in 1987 confirmed the presence of volcanogenic massive sulphide type base and precious metal mineralization including an intersection of 2.37m assaying 10.6 grams per tonne gold, 335.3 grams per tonne silver, 3.13 per cent zinc, and 0.55per cent copper. (George Cross Newsletter # 237, 1987; BC Ministry of Energy and Mines MINFILE 082M 020). The Samatosum deposit, which also lies approximately one kilometer north of the Acacia Property boundary, had an original reserve of 634,984 tonnes averaging 1.9 grams per tonne gold, 3.6 per cent zinc, and 1.2 per cent copper (Pirie, 1989). Inmet Mining Corporation mined the deposit between 1981 and 1982. The mineralization is associated with a highly deformed quartz vein system located along the contact between Eagle Bay formation metasediments and volcaniclastics and is similar to mineralization found on the northern part of the Acacia Property.

The central part of the Acacia Property surrounds the historic Homestake Mine. The Homestake deposit has a probable reserve of 249,906 tonnes of 0.58 grams per tonne gold, 226.6 grams per tonne silver, 36.7 per cent barite, 0.28 per cent copper, 1.24 per cent lead, and 2.19 per cent zinc (Statement of Material Facts 06/06/86, Kamad Silver Company Limited). The main mineralization occurs within two tabular, barite rich horizons hosted by Eagle Bay Formation quartz talc sericite schists. Eagle Plains staking has covered the strike extent of this Homestake schist unit.

The southern part of the property covers at least eight known mineral occurrences including the historic Acacia showing. Mineralization includes stratiform massive sulphides occurring along lithologic contacts and remobilized epigenetic sulphide veins. Grab samples of massive sulphide from small adits in the area of the Acacia showing returned values up to 19.2 per cent zinc. Outcrop is poorly exposed beneath a thick blanket of glacial till. The last documented work program on the Acacia showing area was undertaken by Esso Minerals in 1989 who carried out shallow soil geochemical sampling, prospecting and VLF-EM ground based geophysical surveying. Based on the results of this program, Esso concluded that the "potential for a significant accumulation of massive sulphide is considered to be good along the contact between mafic fragmental and calcareous argillite"of the Eagle Bay Formation underlying the Acacia showing area (Marr, 1989). The Acacia showing area has never been drill tested and the soil samples were not analyzed for gold.

Eagle Plains Resources plans to undertake an aggressive exploration program on the Acacia property in 2000. Data compilation will be followed by geological mapping, prospecting and soil geochemical sampling, with the initial focus on area of the Acacia showings.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Tim J. Termuende, P.Geo.
President and CEO