Exploration Program Commences At Troy Mine Complex

SPOKANE, WA - Revett Minerals Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates the Troy Mine, and the development stage Rock Creek Project,  both of which are located in northwestern Montana. These projects host significant copper and silver mineral reserves and resources and will form the basis of the Company's plan to become a solid mid-tier base and precious metals producer in the future.

Revett Minerals has embarked on an exploration program around the Troy Mine Complex in Lincoln County, Montana, targeting potential new resources to extend the projected 6 year life of the operation.  To date, exploration and development activities at Troy have been focused on reserve delineation and expansion of the known resource which occurs within the Upper Revett Formation.  While these efforts will continue, the new exploration program will seek to define new resources within the Lower Revett Formation adjacent to and beneath the present mine workings, and in a near-by mineralized claim block known as the JF claims, or the JF deposit.  Highlights of this program are: 1) Follow up on encouraging drill results adjacent to and beneath the Troy Mine Complex, 2) Further delineate and expand adjacent the JF deposit which has a historical mineral resource estimate of 11 million tons grading 0.4% Cu and 1.4 opt Ag,  3) 25,500 foot surface drill program to augment current underground program.

This new program will concentrate on strata-bound copper/silver mineralization in the "I-Beds" of the Lower Revett Formation, approximately 1,200 feet stratigraphically below the Troy ore body. The Company's Rock Creek project is hosted in upper quartzite units of the Lower Revett Formation, specifically the "A, C, E & G-Beds", and the Company believes there is potential for ore grade mineralization in these beds as well at Troy. 

ASARCO Inc., the prior operator at Troy, had drilled several holes into the "I-Beds" beneath and adjacent to the mine that returned copper and silver mineralization over a broad area.  In 2006, the Company began testing the Lower Revett to follow up on these findings with encouraging results to date. In addition to drilling in the immediate area of the mine, ASARCO also conducted regional exploration and identified the JF strata-bound copper/silver deposit located approximately 8,000 feet south and on trend with the Troy deposit.  The JF deposit, located in the JF claim block, is hosted in the same "I-Beds" discussed above.  The copper and silver mineralization in the JF claims is contained in a flat lying north-south trending zone approximately 800 feet wide and approximately 1 mile long, with an estimated average thickness of 27 feet.  The JF deposit remains open on its east, west and south margins.
ASARCO's drill program on the JF  claims consisted of 12 diamond drill holes (8 in mineralization, 3 lost before reaching the target, and 1 with no mineralization) totaling 12,183 feet, and 3 "Winkie" holes testing the outcrop (2 in mineralization) totaling 752 feet.  Drill hole spacing ranged from 250 to 700 feet.  Revett has not yet taken the steps to validate this drilling information with new drilling data.

Of interest for the current campaign is drill hole SL-131, located about halfway between the Troy deposit and the northern end of the JF claim block.  This hole may indicate a continuation of mineralization in the "I-Beds" between the JF deposit and the Troy Complex. Two professional geologists with extensive experience working on Revett Formation hosted deposits have been retained by the Company to assist in prioritizing exploration targets and designing drill programs.  The "I-Bed/JF" program they recommended includes 23 surface diamond drill holes, totaling 25,500 feet, to be conducted over the next two surface drilling seasons.  The initial focus will be on the "I-Beds" between the mine and the JF claim block.  Exploration to validate the ASARCO data and potentially expand the JF deposit itself will follow.  Drilling into the "I-Beds" from within the mine is continuing, and designed to mesh with this surface program.
Since acquisition in 1999, Revett had maintained the past producing (1981-1993) Troy mine on a care and maintenance basis. In late 2003, the company began reviewing the feasibility of reopening Troy and in April 2004 decided to put the mine back into production. At full capacity, the Troy Mine is expected to average 2 million ounces of silver and 17 million pounds of copper production per year.

Revett received a favorable Record of Decision for the development of the Rock Creek Mine from the U.S. Forest Service, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in 2003. While this permit has been challenged in the courts, the first phase of development should now commence in 2007 when the Company will drive an evaluation adit into the ore body, with the objective of producing a revised technical and economic feasibility study. This phase is expected to take 2-3 years.

Presuming a positive feasibility study, and the successful financing of the capital costs, Revett intends to develop Rock Creek as an approximate 10,000 ton per day, underground mine/conventional mineral flotation processing operation, with estimated annual production of 6 million ounces of silver, and 52 million pounds of copper over the life of the mine.

The company's address is 11115 East Montgomery, Suite G, Spokane Valley, WA 99206, (509) 921-2294, fax: (509) 891-8901.

Caption for photo:  At full capacity, the Troy Mine, located in Lincoln County, Montana, is expected to average 2 million ounces of silver and 17 million pounds of copper production per year.