AZCO's Gold Project in Mali Receives Favorable Geological Evaluation.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 1996-- AZCO MINING INC. (TSE AZC.) AZCO Mining Inc.'s 51 percent owned SANOU Mining Corporation herebelow summarizes a September 23, 1996 geological evaluation of its Malian gold project prepared by Dr. Leon R.M. Daniels of Geocontracts Botswana (Pty) Ltd. SANOU has a 100 percent working interest in the Medinandi concession (188.5 sq. km.) and Dandoko concession (155.5 sq. km.) located in the Kenieba Gold Mining District of western Mali.

The Kenieba District has been active in gold mining since the third century and has recently advanced to international prominence with the discovery of several significant gold deposits. In 1953 lode gold was discovered in quartz veins in the vicinity of SANOU's Medinandi concession. From 1963 to 1984 SONAREM, the state mining company, focused on the Medinandi area under Russian and French (BRGM) assistance programs. In 1992 a private Russian company acquired the Medinandi and Dandoko exploration permits and subsequently conducted geochemical sampling, auger drilling, trenching and mapping programs. These programs further delineated several known deposits and discovered a number of new gold targets and anomalies. SANOU's negotiations and title transfers of the Medinandi and Dandoko concessions, announced on September 17, 1996 by AZCO, have now been duly completed.

MEDINANDI CONCESSION

The known gold deposits and geochemical anomalies on the Medinandi concession occur in an area 2600 meters long and up to 1200 meters wide in the south narrowing to 600 meters wide in the north. In addition, there is a significant anomalous mineralized trend cross cutting this main zone. The main geochemical anomaly coincides with an area containing several hundred shafts sunk by local artisans mining oxide ore reported to be greater than 10 grams/tonne to depths up to 20 meters.

Exploration has shown the Medinandi block to consist of several parallel vein systems to which a northern and a southern section have been assigned. According to 1967 data, the Russians assisting SONAREM calculated probable and possible gold mineralization in the main trend (zone 1) as follows: SOUTHERN SECTION

700m strike x 12m width x 100m depth x 2.5 g/cc x 7.23 g/t = 15.187 tonnes gold (488,000 ozs) NORTHERN SECTION

1100m strike x 13m width x 100m depth x 2.5 g/cc x 4.11 g/t = 14.693 tonnes gold (472,000 ozs)

The Russians also calculated gold mineralization of 15 tonnes (481,000 ounces) of gold in the Bakolobie area located 10 kilometers north of the Medinandi main zone. Total gold mineralization estimated by the Russians in the Medinandi and Bakolobie areas are 44.9 tonnes or 1.4 million ounces. Although the data and methods used by the Russians are not deemed adequate to support these calculations under international standards, it is clear that these areas contain substantial quantities of gold, that the deposits are open in the three dimensions and that an excellent opportunity to verify and expand this mineralization is available to SANOU.

In the interest of evaluating the gold mineralization on the Medinandi concession under standards current in the industry, Dr. Daniels reports an estimate based on available data to a depth of 70 meters and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Code for Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves as prescribed by the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. -0-

DR. DANIELS' EVALUATION

                 Indicated                 Inferred
            Gold Mineralization       Gold Mineralization
Area       Tonnes   Gr/T     Ozs     Tonnes   Gr/T     Ozs
-------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 1 S.  46,116   11.7    17,345
Zone 1 S.                            316,764   11.7   119,115
Zone 1 N.                          1,806,000    4.4   255,485
Zone 2                                82,500    3       7,955
Zone 3                               150,000    2       9,645
Bakolobie W.                         225,000    2      14,465
-------------------------------------------------------------
           46,116   11.7    17,345 2,580,264    4.9   406,665

In an August 14, 1996 document submitted to the Vancouver Stock Exchange by Oliver Gold Corp., Mr. R.E. Chisholm, Consulting Geologist reported the Medinandi area to contain 38.28 tonnes of gold in mineralization grading 2.32 g/t (1.23 million ounces).

Within a range of 150 kilometers from SANOU's concessions there are five major gold deposits owned by others - Sadiola (10 million ounces), Segala (1 million ounces), Tabakoto - Dar Salam (possibly + 1 million ounces) and Loulo (+ 800,000 ounces ) in Mali and the Sabodala (possibly + 1 million ounces) in Senegal. All these deposits have related geological characteristics and are hosted in the same volcano-sedimentary units of the Birimian Formation. It should be noted that the earlier exploration efforts on the Medinandi concession did little or no assaying and gave no consideration to gold mineralization in the wall rocks. Since the Medinandi mineralization is open at both ends and at depth, it is possible that the Medinandi south zone alone may contain one million ounces of gold assuming the deposit extends to a depth of 200 meters. The potential of the Medinandi trend is further increased by the existence of a significant soil anomaly west of the main zone, by the occurrence of strong mineralization at depth that was undetected by surface geochemical sampling, by the presence of two parallel zones, (2 & 3) to the east of the main trend and by an untested geochemical anomaly cross cutting the northern section of zone 1.

The western section of the Bakolobie anomaly has been investigated only to a depth of 25 meters and exploration was formerly limited to the north by property boundaries. Since this deposit is open in three dimensions and SANOU is in the process of acquiring 200 sq. km. of adjacent land to the north, it is reasonable to anticipate the previous estimate of mineralization may be increased significantly. The development potential of this expanded target area includes excellent open pit mining characteristics, primarily in the area of the greatest width of shallow mineralization observed to date.

DANDOKO CONCESSION

The Dandoko, or eastern concession, contains several geochemical anomalies and numerous surface and shallow underground workings by artisanal miners. This area has four specific zones recognized to be highly prospective, but the targets are at a grass roots level and the data available is not sufficient to calculate a resource.

In summary, the Mining Code of Mali provides incentives for foreign investment, the potential for expanding and developing an economic gold deposit in the Medinandi concession is high and the Dandoko concession is considered to hold significant exploration potential. As a result, Dr. Daniels has recommended an aggressive exploration program designed to expand the gold inventory and upgrade the mineralization to mineable categories in a manner that would provide for the timely completion of a comprehensive feasibility study. The initial program is to consist of geochemical sampling, mapping, remote sensing, ground geophysics, trenching and auger, percussion and core drilling program with a budget of U.S. $1,800,000, including provisions for infrastructure during exploration. SANOU is finalizing the details of this program and anticipates to start preparatory work on site by mid-November 1996 and drilling by early January 1997.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of AZCO Mining Inc. David C. Beling

President and Chief Operating Officer

This news release has been prepared by management of the company who takes full responsibility for its contents. The American Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange neither approve nor disapprove the contents of this news release.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

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