Ashton Mining of Canada Inc.: Alberta K6 Kimberlite Diamond Results.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2003

Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of Ashton Mining of Canada, Inc. (TSX:ACA)("Ashton"), reports further diamond results from the K6 kimberlite on the Buffalo Hills property in north-central Alberta. These results are derived from drill core collected during the winter 2003 program undertaken by Ashton and its joint venture partners, EnCana Corporation ("EnCana") and Pure Gold Minerals Inc. ("Pure Gold").

Discovered in 1997, K6 has estimated surface dimensions of 600 m x 250 m and is located approximately 500 m southeast of the K252 kimberlite. The estimated diamond content of a 22.8 tonne sample from K252 analyzed in 2001 was 55 carats per hundred tonnes ("cpht"), the highest reported to date for an Alberta kimberlite.

K6 is interpreted to have a northern and a southern vent. Samples totaling 19.2 tonnes were collected from the northern vent in 1997 and 2002. This material returned 1.42 carats of diamonds greater than 0.8 mm, including a 0.76 carat yellow diamond, for an estimated diamond content of 7.2 cpht.

As reported on February 27, during the 2003 winter program a hole was drilled to a depth of 251 m into the southern vent. Core samples with a combined weight of 309 kg were processed for diamonds by caustic dissolution at Ashton's North Vancouver laboratory. The table below presents the resulting data in square mesh sieve format. These data are insufficient to infer a diamond grade for K6.

                   K6 Diamond Results -- Winter 2003
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        Number of Diamonds According to Sieve Size Fraction (mm)
Sample  ------------------------------------------------------- Total
Weight  +0.100 +0.150 +0.212 +0.300 +0.425 +0.600 +0.850 +1.180  Dia-
   (kg) -0.150 -0.212 -0.300 -0.425 -0.600 -0.850 -1.180 -1.700 monds
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 308.8      39     24     12      4      0      0      0      0    79

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Currently, no additional work is planned on K6 or the diamondiferous K296 and K300 kimberlites discovered during the winter program. The joint venture will be reviewing all data to determine plans for future work in 2003 and beyond.

The approximate beneficial interests of the parties are Ashton 45 percent, EnCana 45 percent, and Pure Gold 10 percent. Including K6, K296 and K300, the joint venture has identified 38 kimberlites in the Buffalo Head Hills region of north-central Alberta, of which 26 are diamondiferous.

Ashton is the operator of the exploration programs and Brooke Clements, Professional Geologist and Ashton's Vice President, Exploration, is responsible for their design and conduct and the verification and quality assurance of analytical results.