Alchemy Ventures Ltd. - Provides Simplified Exploration Update.

Business Editors

RICHMOND, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2001

Alchemy Ventures Ltd. (CDNX:ALY.V) wishes to further explain the results of recent drilling on its Helmer Bovill Project in Idaho.

The Helmer Bovill clay deposit occurs within an extensive belt of tropically weathered granite, which has been eroded, transported, and redeposited as kaolin clay-bearing lake beds. Deposits of this type tend to be quite large, but only a handful of large kaolin belts have been found throughout the world. Tropical weathering will eventually transform kaolinite to bauxite (aluminum ore). Therefore, kaolinite represents an intermediate, geologically short-lived mineralogical stage between feldspar and bauxite. For this reason, kaolin belts are highly valuable, and Alchemy is in the fortunate position of working in such a setting in northern Idaho.

Chemically, the feldspar grains in the granite have been altered to kaolinite clay, which is considerably softer than the original feldspar. Quartz and mica in the granite are not altered by this type of tropical weathering, which involves a long period of exposure to warm rainwater. A thick blanket of the clay-altered (residual) granite has been found on Alchemy's property, and this constitutes one type of clay deposit that we have discovered.

To date, we have drilled 19 holes in residual granitic clay. The residual clays occur as topographic ridges, with clay thickness ranging from 40 to more than 110 feet. Kelly's Hump, Moose Creek Ridge, WBL Ridge, East Moose Creek Ridge, and MC-7 Ridge are residual clay deposits on the property. They collectively cover an area of several thousand acres, with an average thickness of residual clay that exceeds 20 meters. Two previous mining operations covering 35 acres recovered 3.5 million tons of residual clay, or 100,000 tons per acre. Testing of this residual clay has yielded a high brightness white kaolinite suitable for use as an extender and filler product. Additional resource drilling is ongoing in the residual clay deposits.

A second type of clay deposit at Helmer Bovill is the transported or sedimentary kaolin. The residual clays have been partially eroded by rainfall and stream action, and redeposited nearby in quieter lake waters. During this process, the lighter clay minerals are partially separated from the heavier quartz and mica grains, resulting in alternating clay-rich and sandier beds. Drainages between the residual ridges contain transported lake bed clays ranging in thickness from a few feet to over 210 feet.

The North Moose Meadows sedimentary kaolin deposit has been intersected by 14 core holes to date. This basin covers an area of 600 by 1500 meters between Moose Meadows Ridge and East Moose Meadows Ridge. As erosion of surrounding residual granitic clays began, clay poured into the basin, interbedded with quartz sands. During low water periods, marshy wetlands formed carbon-rich clay layers with some lignite-grade coal seams. Occasional floods deposited coarser gravels in deeper portions of the lake, where the gravels sank into soft clays. The basin eventually filled to its top with clay-bearing units, to a thickness exceeding 210 feet in places.

The kaolin in the North Moose Meadows Basin constitutes another large filler and extender clay resource. Drilling to date indicates that the central 80 acres of the basin may contain from 2 to 5 times the clay content per acre of the residual clays. Similar basins on the property have not yet been explored.

Lake bed halloysite is the third type of clay found at Helmer Bovill. Halloysite is a white clay similar to kaolinite, but it has had water molecules added to its crystalline structure due to hot water (hydrothermal) alteration. In the southern portions of the Helmer Embayment, clays derived from residual granitic deposits were deposited to a depth of 140 feet over an area of 30 square miles. Following deposition of the lake bed clays, hot basalt lavas flowed over the sediments, which altered the kaolinite in the lake beds to halloysite. It should be noted that the residual and transported kaolinites in the Moose Creek area were never altered to halloysite because they remained at an elevation above the level of the basalt flows.

Halloysite is an exceptional ceramic and refractory clay, and it is also used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Most of the previous clay production at Helmer Bovill has been from the halloysitic beds. Alchemy has an independent estimate of 13 million tons of halloysite on its property in the Corral Creek area, but we have drilled only one core hole in halloysite to date. A resource definition drilling program is scheduled to be carried out after spring breakup.

The company is in the process of defining sufficient clay to complete its pre-feasibility study. This drilling will not completely define all of the clay resources on the project's 10,000 acres. Additional clay resources will be added by drilling as markets are developed.

Kaolin and clay are less well understood than the metallic mining projects that are more familiar to investors. Alchemy Ventures encourages shareholders and the interested public to contact us on our website, http://alchemykaolin.com, in order to ask questions on any aspect of the Helmer Bovill project. The company seeks to educate in order to encourage a more informed shareholder in the $4,000,000,000 international market for clay.

Results of further drilling can be obtained from the Company's website http://www.alchemykaolin.com

Investor Relations may be reached at 877/553-6573 (toll free)

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

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Roderick Christie / President

The Canadian Venture Exchange has neither approved or disapproved the information enclosed in this release.

Forward looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Legislation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, possible changes in the cost of materials expense items, capital expenditures, capital structure, and other financial items; introduction of new products and possible acquisitions of assets or businesses; possible actions by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulatory authorities; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.