Ashton Mining of Canada Inc.: Renard 3, 4, 5 and 6 Diamondiferous.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2002

Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. ("Ashton") (TSX:ACA.TO), is pleased to report microdiamond results for Renard 3, 4, 5 and 6, the four kimberlitic bodies discovered in the Otish Mountains region of north-central Quebec in early 2002. Renard 3, 4, 5 and 6 are located within a one kilometre radius of the diamondiferous Renard 2 kimberlitic body on the 153,000 hectare Foxtrot property currently being explored by Ashton and its joint venture partner, SOQUEM INC. ("SOQUEM").

As announced on April 9, one vertical or near-vertical hole and one angle hole at 50 degrees from horizontal were drilled into each of the four bodies. Each hole was 4.76 cm in diameter. Samples of core from the vertical or near-vertical holes were processed for microdiamonds by caustic dissolution at Ashton's North Vancouver laboratory. The following table presents, for each of the four bodies, the diamond results and the dimensions of the corresponding geophysical anomaly.

                    Microdiamond Results - Renard 3, 4, 5 and 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Numbers of Diamonds
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimberlitic  Sample       Micro              Macro          Approximate
   Body      Weight  Greater than 0.1     Greater than        Size of
              (kg)   less than 0.5 mm  or Equal to 0.5 mm   Geophysical
                   (in two dimensions) (in one dimension)     Anomaly
                                                              (metres)
                                                              (Note 1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renard 3      101.2         10             9 (Note 3)         125 x 60
(Note 2)
Renard 4      102.1         21            14 (Note 4)         120 x 120
Renard 5      100.3         15            20 (Note 5)          80 x 80
Renard 6      100.6         25             6 (Note 6)         120 x 120
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

1. The drill data reported on April 9 suggest that each of the

bodies may be smaller than the corresponding geophysical

anomaly.

2. In addition to the diamonds shown in the table, more than 2500

diamond fragments were recovered from this sample.

3. Seven of these macrodiamonds are greater than 0.5 mm in two

dimensions, the largest being 2.8 x 1.5 x 0.7 mm.

4. Eleven macrodiamonds are greater than 0.5 mm in two

dimensions, the largest being 2.5 x 2.1 x 0.9 mm.

5. Thirteen macrodiamonds are greater than 0.5 mm in two

dimensions, the largest being 2.5 x 2.0 x 1.8 mm.

6. Two macrodiamonds are greater than 0.5 mm in two dimensions,

the largest being 1.2 x 1.0 x 0.8 mm.

As reported above, the Renard 3 sample returned more than 2500 diamond fragments. These fragments are attributed to the breakage, during sample processing, of at least two stones greater than three millimetres. Ashton's microdiamond recovery circuit is not typically configured to recover larger diamonds. Therefore, an additional sample is currently being processed in a manner designed to enhance the likelihood of recovering larger stones intact.

The joint venture is very encouraged by the size of a number of the diamonds recovered in these initial small samples. Together with the mini-bulk sample data for Renard 2 announced on June 11, the current results emphasize the exploration potential of the Otish Mountains region and demonstrate the need for further work on the Renard cluster. During the next six to eight weeks, the joint venture will analyze all of the available data in order to develop a program for the continued evaluation of these kimberlitic bodies. This program will likely include the collection of larger samples.

Ashton and SOQUEM have been exploring for diamonds in Quebec since 1996. The 50:50 joint venture currently holds more than 380,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral permits, including 250,000 hectares in the Otish Mountains region. SOQUEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGF Minerals Inc., a subsidiary of Societe Generale de Financement du Quebec ("SGF"). The mission of the SGF is to carry out economic development projects in cooperation with partners and in accordance with accepted requirements of profitability.

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.