Eagle Plains/Northern Continental Commence Drill Program on “Abo” Gold Project, South-Western B.C.

Cranbrook, B.C. 28 February, 2005: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX-V) and option partner Northern Continental Resources (NCR:TSX-V) have initiated a 1200m (4000’) $200,000 diamond drilling program on the Abo Gold Project, located 5 km north of Harrison Hot Springs, approximately 100 km east of Vancouver, British Columbia. The central area of the property consists of 76 units (1900 ha) owned 100% by EPL, and subject to an option agreement whereby NCR may earn a 60% interest in the claims by completing $3,000,000 in exploration expenditures and issuing 1,200,000 shares over 5 years. An additional 84 contiguous claim units were subsequently acquired by staking, and are held 100% by NCR. Hydroelectric power, natural gas and rail service are located within 3km of property boundaries.

The property area has been held or optioned by various operators since the early 1970’s including Abo Resources Ltd., Kerr Addison Mines Ltd. and Bema International Resources Ltd. Exploration work includes mapping, soil sampling, ground-based geophysics, 444m of underground development work and a total of 13,856m (45,448’) of diamond drilling. Barry Price, P.Geo. in 2002 prepared a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate that outlines an indicated resource on the property of 1.845 million tonnes grading 2.79 g/t Au containing 165,000 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 0.6 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t Au containing 55,000 ounces of gold in the Jenner and Portal zones, which are open to depth. The focus of the 2005 program is to carry out work in the Portal Stock area in addition to exploration drilling of the Hill and Breccia Zones, and untested soil geochemical anomalies and geophysical features outlined during a 2001 airborne geophysical survey flown by Eagle Plains.

The most recent systematic work program completed on the property occurred in 2003 and consisted of 15 km of road and trail rehabilitation, implementation of secure underground access, 300m of trenching and 682m of diamond drilling in 4 holes. Highlights included an interval grading 14.1 g/t Au, 25.8 g/t Ag over 1.5m.; 4.9 g/t Au over 3.9m; and 18 g/t Au, 31.6 g/t Ag over 1m (ABO 03-2). Drillhole ABO 03-03 reported 8.6g/t Au and 18.7 g/t Ag over 1.0m and 14.2 g/t Au and 29.5 g/t Ag over 1.5m.

The current program is being carried out under the supervision of C.C. Downie, P.Geo., (the “Qualified Person”) and is expected to take 4-5 weeks to complete.

Eagle Plains Resources continues to conduct research, acquisition and exploration projects in western Canada. The Company controls over 30 gold and base-metal projects, many of which are currently optioned to or joint-ventured with third parties including NovaGold Inc., Amarc Resources Ltd. (a Hunter-Dickinson Company), Northern Continental Resources Inc., Shoshone Silver Mining Co., and Golden Cariboo Resources Inc. These agreements expose Eagle Plains to over $18 million in exploration expenditures by its partners over the next five years. In recent years, Eagle Plains has completed option agreements with Billiton Metals, Rio Algom Exploration, Kennecott Exploration, Viceroy Resource Corp. and numerous other junior exploration companies, resulting in over 18,000m (60,000 ft) of drilling and over $6,000,000 in exploration spending on its projects since 1998. Over $3.5 million in exploration spending is expected on the company’s properties during 2005.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Signed

“Tim J. Termuende”
President and CEO

For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)
Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com

 

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Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.