Drill Results Received On Cerro Samenta Porphyry Copper

VANCOUVER - Marifil Mines Ltd. has received all the drilling assay results on its Cerro Samenta porphyry copper project in Salta Province, Argentina. Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), the Company's joint venture partner, completed a nine hole 3,011 meter diamond core drill program, along with other works including an extensive surface grid rock sampling geochemical survey and excavator trenching. A completed project report covering all work components of the project is in progress.

John Hite, the Company's CEO said, "While these drilling results are lower than expected the economic porphyry copper discovery potential of this property is still viable. Cerro Samenta is a very large sulfide system with large portions of which are yet to be drill tested. The northwest sector lies beyond the limits of the Southern Copper drilling and hosts an untested IP chargeability anomaly discovered by Teck Minera de Argentina S.A. in 1996, and may be the focus of the next exploration efforts. Finally, the drill results do not explain the long intervals of high grade copper exposed in nearby trenches and the potential for a moderate-sized oxide copper deposit discovery remains."

Cerro Samenta exhibits a geological setting typical of porphyry Cu deposits. The mineralization is related to a calc-alkaline volcanic sequence and the granite basement intruded by a complex stock of variable composition which shows an alteration pattern with a weak to moderate potassic alteration overlapped by extensive phyllic alteration. The SSCO project work defines a three phase granodioritic porphyry system with associated volcanics. The two earlier phases are mineralized with copper; the youngest phase is un-mineralized. Mineralization is disseminated and in veinlets which form a weak stockwork. Primary mineralization includes an association of pyrite, chalcopyrite and subordinate molybdenite. Secondary minerals are chalcosite, neotocite, covellite and chrysocolla.

Marifil's Cerro Samenta property is a porphyry Cu-Mo prospect located 270 kilometers west of the city of Salta in the Puna region of northwestern Argentina.