Apogee Begins Phase I Drilling Program at Buena Vista Project.

TORONTO -- Apogee Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:APE) has completed compilation work and commenced its Phase I drilling program at the Buena Vista project in the Potosi district of southwestern Bolivia, approximately 600 km south of La Paz. The initial program will consist of seven holes and total a minimum of 1000m of diamond drilling to systematically test a previously-identified mineralized  zone at 100m intervals along strike and down dip to explore for extensions of the known veins and for parallel systems. The property has numerous shallow pits, shafts and adits of indeterminable length over an area of approximately 2km by 1km. Past work on the property has returned positive values of Silver, Zinc, Lead and Gold.

Targets were selected based on favourable results from prior underground and surface sampling of the mineralization by Corporacion Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL). The mineralized system consists of one major and several minor northwesterly striking, steeply dipping, sulphide-rich silver-lead-zinc-antimony-gold veins that are hosted in dacitic ash-flow tuffs, agglomerates, and lava flows. The veins range in width from 1cm - 1m, are reportedly continuous over 500 - 1000 metres, and the workings are reported to extend to depths of 300 metres.

Previous drill results received by COMIBOL in 1970 have influenced target selection and include:

HOLE NO       FROM       TO     METERS      g/t Ag      %Pb      %Zn

8            106.7    112.8        6.1       40.00     1.73     2.72
8            111.8    112.8        1.0      110.00     4.86     3.91
8            116.9    126.0        9.1       66.39     2.75     6.31
8            120.0    126.0        6.0       92.90     4.65     9.69

18           272.1    272.9        0.8    1,649.00     2.79     0.54
18           280.5    281.3        0.8      692.00     2.26     2.45

9            118.9    124.0        5.1       69.74     4.00     4.03
14           120.7    123.8        3.1      128.00     0.57     0.59
14           124.4    129.6        5.2      175.00     1.02     1.42
14           120.7    129.6        8.9      146.80     0.79     1.03

Surface and underground sampling results received at
 Buena Vista include:

  - Channel sampling by COMBOL in 1970 that returned an aggregate
    of 42 meters grading an average of 68.9g/t Silver and
    0.52g/t Gold
  - Underground channel sampling by Andean Silver in 1996 that
    returned 0.3m of 47.76 g/t Gold and 528 g/t Silver.

Surface channel sampling carried out by COMIBOL in 1970 returned
 the following:

Sample No             width     Au g/t      Ag g/t

5-42                   1.60       4.60       161.1
5-43                   0.20       8.00       663.0
5-44                   0.20       3.24       580.0
5-45                   1.10      30.02      1000.0
5-46                   1.10       0.16        13.3

Sample No             width     Au g/t      Ag g/t

9                       4.0       0.19       239.8
8                       3.0       0.24       174.0
5                       3.0       0.37        61.9

Apogee President and CEO John Carlesso commented: "As is the case with all of our properties, the previous work and results compiled at Buena Vista, combined with its prolific and historic geological setting, provide us with enthusiasm as we kick off the program. This year will be very active in terms of exploration for Apogee, and we will be announcing the exploration programs and objectives planned for our additional properties shortly."

Apogee Minerals Ltd. Is a Canadian exploration and development company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol APE. The company has several advanced Silver-Zinc exploration properties in the historic Potosi Department of southwestern Bolivia and has an agreement to acquire the Silver-Zinc-Lead producing La Solucion mine approximately 17 km outside of La Paz.

Mr. Robert Anderson Campbell, M.Sc., P.Geo., is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the scientific and technical work on the exploration program and is responsible for reviewing the technical disclosure in this press release. The drill results and channel samples discussed in this press release are historical in nature, have not been verified by Apogee's Qualified Person, and should not be relied upon.

This press release is available on the company's official on-line investor relations site for investor commentary, feedback and questions. Investors are asked to visit http://www.agoracom.com/ir/apogee. Alternatively, investors are asked to e-mail all questions and correspondence to [e-mail] where they can also request addition to the Apogee Minerals investor e-mail list to receive all future press releases and updates directly.

Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual developments or results may vary materially from those in these "forward-looking statements".

A map is available on CCNMatthews' website at:

http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/database/fax/2000/apogee.pdf

Apogee Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:APE)