Adven Inc. Acquires West African Gold Properties.

Business Editors

RENO, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2004

Adven Inc. (OTC BB: AVNI) announced today that it has acquired a controlling interest in five gold and PGE properties located in Mali, West Africa. Mali is a rapidly expanding gold producing center, and is currently the third largest Gold producer in Africa. Effective immediately, Adven will change its name to West Africa Gold Inc. to reflect its new corporate focus.

Under the terms of the agreement, Adven has acquired controlling interest in the Toubikoto (Gold), Manianguiti (Gold), In Darset (Gold, Base Metals), Anefis (Gold, Base Metals) and Touban (Nickel, Copper PGE's) properties. The properties are located in diverse geographic locations throughout Mali. In aggregate, the properties total over 500 square kilometers (approximately 193 square miles). The Geological Resource Evaluation on the properties indicates a potential Inferred Geological Resource of at least 3,000,000 ounces of gold. During 2001, Mali produced approximately 1.7 million ounces of gold at a cash cost less than US $160 per ounce. Mali is thought to have in excess of 350 tons of recoverable gold and is recognized as having enormous potential for further gold discoveries.

Richard Mark Axtell has been appointed President and CEO of the Company, replacing Henri Hornby who identified the acquisition on behalf of Adven shareholders. As part of the transition, Mr. Hornby has agreed to serve as a consultant to the company for a period of two years.

"The mining acquisition presents a unique opportunity for our shareholders to benefit from the recent increase in the gold price. We now control a majority interest in highly prospective gold Properties that may have substantial Resources. In Mali, the Company will enter one of the most promising gold producing areas in the world", stated Mr. Hornby.

The Company will continue to explore the various rights and potential new targets. Various stages of geological prospecting are presently underway, leading to later-stage feasibility studies with advanced mining, metallurgical and trial mining phases.

About Mali

Mali is a landlocked country of 1,240,190 square kilometers (approximately 478,835 square miles), which is roughly, double the size of Texas, or five times the size of the United Kingdom. It borders on Algeria to the north, Niger and Burkina Faso to the east, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea to the south, Senegal and Mauritania to the west. During 2001, Mali produced approximately 1.7 million ounces of gold at a cash cost less than US $160 per ounce. Mali is thought to have in excess of 350 tons of recoverable gold and is recognized as having enormous potential for further gold discoveries. Mali is currently the third largest Gold producer in Africa.

About the Mining Properties

Toubikoto (Gold)

The Toubikoto prospect was covered with a geochemical soil survey of 1,566 samples that identified 10 strong anomalies with the same association to those at Manianguinti below. The anomalies are strongly related to the north-east - south-west trending fracture zone and associated structural shears en-echelon and in most cases, small granitic intrusive bodies and associated quartz veining are reported associated with the anomalies.

A particularly large anomaly persists in the northeast corner of the concession area and it is considered a prime target for exploration drilling, as it coincides with a granodiorite intrusive.

The exploration plan is first to re-map and check all outcrops in relation to a structural model obtained from air-photo and satellite imagery interpretation. This should be followed by geophysical surveys, with airborne magnetic and electromagnetic survey, if available and / or ground geophysics, including the two areas and a gravimetric survey of the target areas and the surrounding area.

These investigations could give a clearer picture of stratigraphic pile and the structural controls of the geochemical inferred mineralization and outline the drilling targets. Core drilling will then follow with several essentially stratigraphic drill holes on the re-defined targets and further exploration will be success-driven, based on the continuing geological and structural interpretations afforded by the drilling results.

It is expected that the Toubikoto and Manianguinti projects can prove Resources of the order of magnitude and grade, etc. as those in the vicinity. For this, the proposed prospecting operation for extensive geophysical and geochemical work on the properties to be followed by drilling and comprehensive sampling, analysis and metallurgical testing of the defined ore bodies for inclusion in a complete feasibility study.

Manianguinti (Gold),

Manianguinti was covered by a reconnaissance geochemical soil survey of 1,651 samples that identified 6 distinct anomalous gold zones, with 3 zones considered to be a high priority.

Gold values in the soils over the major anomalies average about 2.0 g/t and these coincide with the north-east trending shear zone related to the mineralization at Tabakoto and Medinandi and continuing to the Moralia artisanal area in the eastern part of the Segala permit. The other anomalies are in sedimentary sequences and mineralization appears to be strongly structurally controlled, as is the case in the entire area.

There is strong evidence here that high-grade gold quartz were injected into sheared felsic rocks at depth, and drilling in some of the anomalies is imperative.

In Darset (Gold, Base Metals), and Anefis (Gold, Base Metals)

The two projects of the Company are exploration or research permits (Permis de Recherche) are located in the north of the country, a relatively short distance forms the Algerian border and the In Darset permit includes the larger resource and the best grade identified of the Companies projects.

They are located in the Adrar des Iforas on the western side of the Trans-Sahara highway which connects Oran, Algeria on the Mediterranean coast with Gao on the Niger River to the south. This portion of the highway is symbolically marked with kilometer posts, but often degenerates into a series of parallel tracks. The 1,175-kilometre road from Bamako to Gao on the Niger River is paved and there are twice-daily ferries across the river to the north bank for vehicles of all sizes up to full-sized tractor trailers.

The Anefis permit is some 350 kilometers north of Gao, along the Tilemsi valley of the Trans-Sahara and In Darset lies 50 kilometers beyond it. The region lies in the 'Kidal Cercle' or special development region centered on the town of Kidal, located some 150 kilometers south of the Aguel'hoc junction between the two permits. The only other village in the area is Tessalit in the north of the In Darset permit, near the Algerian border. The Algerian occurrences on the eastern side of the Adrar antiform include the Tirek and Amesmessa deposits with the reported of 4.96 Mt at 14.1 g/t of gold (2.25 Moz) at Amesmessa and 0.59 t at 25.2 g/t of gold (0.45 Moz) at Tirek. The southern extensions of the Amesmessa structure pass into the Mali side of the Adrar des Iforas roughly 160 kilometers eastwards of the In Darset and Anefis permits, but the structural settings of the eastern and western sides is essentially similar.

The Adrar area is underlain by the Tuareg Shield with Early and Late Proterozoic volcano-sedimentary rocks draped over it as an antiform with locally developed Pan-African conglomerates.

The permit areas are largely underlain by metamorphosed Late Proterozoic volcano-sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by lesser large-scale syn- to post-tectonic granitoids and smaller gabbroic bodies. The two permit areas are underlain by greywacke schists and supposed marine-laid tillites and In Darset has single basin of Pan-African conglomerates surrounding an anorogenic alkaline complex. The areas are located over a major structural 'suture zone' expressed by a major gravimetric low.

-- In the In Darset permit area, a total of seven mineralized

'lenses' were defined and an elaborate sampling program

identified the following grades:

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Lense            Au g/t           Pb %      Zn %      Cu %    Ba SO(4)
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  1               17              tr        0.40      4.3
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  2              1.4              0.7       5.95        -
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                 1.0              1.8      24.60        -
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  3             14.0              -         0.90      3.3      7.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  4             50.0              tr        0.65      4.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                14.0              tr        1.05      9.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  5              9.5              0.4       1.55      5.2     10.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  6              tr               0.3       2.70      tr
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  7              1.0              0.6      18.00       -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

A preliminary phase will consist of an exhaustive literature search of the sparse data, acquisition and study of the available satellite imagery, possible air-photo interpretation, with field geological mapping and regional-scale geological and structural interpretation. It is proposed to follow this work from the permit areas to the possible extensions of the Algerian occurrences to the east. The fieldwork will form the basis of the planning for additional geophysical work, with a possible airborne geophysical survey.

This initial phase is expected to provide a sophisticated level of geological-structural interpretation and aid in the selecting and refining of target areas. A starting point will then be the previous sampling and trenching, following up on both the French and the SONAREM Soviet-advised programmes.

Touban (Nickel, Copper, PGE's).

The Touban hill is an intrusive basic-ultrabasic elongated plug-like body that contains two petrographically distinct facies, an ultrabasic peridotitic-type partly serpentinised facies and a gabbroic facies with little mineral alteration. The petrographic and geochemistry studies indicate that the Touban intrusive is differentiated from komatiite magma with similar mineralogy and geochemical characteristics of other known stratified basic-ultrabasic bodies with massive sulphide mineral association. This factor is significant from the point of view of the mineral economic potential of the body.

There is a correlation between the disseminated sulphide minerals and both nickel and platinoid values, indicating a strong magmatic differentiation within the Touban intrusive. It is concluded that the sulphide association and the modest nickel-copper and platinoid values obtained are similar to other intrusive bodies, including the famous Kambalda, Western Australia.

Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the Company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control, including but not limited to economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company's operations, management team effectiveness, expansion strategies, available financing, market prices and recovery costs, government regulations involving the Company, facts and events not known at the time of this release, and other factors discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

These statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.