Drilling Commences On Jumping Josephine Gold Project 

VANCOUVER, BC - Astral Mining Corporation reported that an initial 3,000m drill program has commenced on the Jumping Josephine (JJ) Gold Project in southern British Columbia that will test up to six high-potential targets including extension drilling on the previously identified JJ Main mineralized gold zone. Concurrent with drilling, the summer program consisting of trenching, soil sampling and mapping continues on the project. To date eight NQ diamond drill holes totaling 2,019m have been completed and two batches of core samples have been submitted for assay.

Work conducted since 2006 has delineated a gold-bearing quartz stockwork zone 900m long to a depth of 240m at JJ Main with drill intercepts including 7.01 g/t Au over 19m (estimated true width 12.6m) from hole 07JD013 and 12.44 g/t Au over 8m (estimated true width 5.5m) from hole 08JD048 (see July 12th 2007 and Nov 29th 2007 news releases). The JJ Main Zone occurs along a regional-scale structure that extends for over 3km. The primary focus of the current drilling program is to test on regular intervals the 1.4km segment of the structure between the JJ Main Zone and the Highway showing for additional high-grade gold zones. If mineralized, this extension would bring the total known mineralized trend to 2.3km. Astral believes that the possibility of locating additional mineralized zones similar to JJ Main along the over 3km long structure, defined by aeromagnetics, soil geochemistry and local drilling and trenching, is excellent. In addition, other high priority gold targets including Big Sheep, Bonanza, Hillside and Borrow Pit will also be tested with initial drilling during the current program. Dorado Drilling of Vernon, B.C has been contracted to carry out the drilling program. The company's address is Suite 920, 1055 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9, 604-601-5650, fax: 604-683-2249, email: [email protected].