Army, Navy, Earth Search Sciences Team up to Conduct Mineral and Environmental Projects Using Imaging Technologies.

MCCALL, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 1996--Larry Vance, chairman of the board of Earth Search Sciences, today announced that the company, in conjunction with the Naval Research Laboratory and the Army Cold Weather Labs, has concluded an agreement to conduct airborne and ground-based remote sensing. The project is aimed at establishing the mineral and geological makeup of Idaho's Mining districts and wetlands issues in the Seattle, WA area.

The agreement comes days after Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and the Kazakstani Ambassador to the U.S., Bolat Nurgaliev, signed a breakthrough memorandum of cooperation to use Earth Search Sciences' hyperspectral imaging technology and other methods to identify and quantify mineral reserves in Kazakstan.

"This important research project underscores the great value of remote sensing technology in environmental and resource applications," Vance said. "By combining unique data from the Navy's sensor and Earth Search's eye in the sky with the data we gather on the ground, we will establish an authoritative record of the environmental, mineral and geological make-up of this region".

"What we learn in working with the Army and Navy will help us make even greater improvements in Earth Search Sciences' ("Probe 1") commercial imaging instruments."

Data is being collected now by the Army and Navy research laboratories and Earth Search Sciences in the mining districts of central Idaho. Information recorded from the air and that collected by hand-held devices on the ground will be synthesized and assessed in the coming weeks by Earth Search Sciences and by specialists from the Naval Research Laboratory and by the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Remote Sensing GIS/Center.

The remote imaging project is being performed in conjunction with the Earth Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM), affiliated with the University of Michigan. The project is employing the U.S. Navy's HYDICE hyperspectral imaging sensor and Earth Search Sciences' Probe 1 imaging sensor.

Vance said the HYDICE technology will be used to develop software and hardware improvements that will benefit the development of Probe 2 scheduled for late 1997 test flights. Information gathered on the projects will be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District to:

-- Delineate wetlands in the areas of interest;

-- Complete detailed wetlands and geological maps;

-- Assess the health and vitality of the forest.

Information gathered on the projects will be used by Earth Search Sciences, Inc. of McCall, Idaho to:

-- Delineate minerals and structure;

-- Locate vegetal anomalies;

-- Determine forest health;

-- Define water issues;

-- Develop base line imagery for outdoor field

laboratory.

Work will be carried out through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) negotiated by Earth Search Sciences with the U.S. Army. A CRADA enables private businesses and federal government-sponsored agencies to cost-share research projects.

As part of the CRADA, Earth Search Sciences will hold an equal interest in the information accumulated during the remote imaging mission.

Demonstration of this technology is at the heart of the mission to Kazakstan. Earth Search Sciences will team with the U.S. government and several private subcontractors from the aerospace and electronics industries to determine the extent of commercially viable resources in the vast and mineral-rich Polygon region of the Republic of Kazakstan.

As part of that agreement, Earth Search Sciences holds a mineral and resource concession in the Polygon with a Kazakstani joint stock company ("SEMTECH") and is in the final negotiations with a large mining company.

CONTACT: Scott Peyron, 208/388-3800