Ateba Signs Letter Of Intent With Cargill Fertilizer, Inc.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 1998--Ateba Mines Inc.(Alberta Stock Exchange:ABM.) ATEBA MINES INC. announces that it has signed a letter of intent with Cargill Fertilizer, Inc. (Cargill) to determine the possibility of a plant to process clay wastes on Cargill property in Florida with the objective of recovering phosphate rock and treating the remaining clay by solidification to rehabilitate Cargill's clay storage areas.

The Alberta Stock Exchange has also conditionally approved the acquisition by Ateba of all the issued shares of Claytech Environmental Services Inc. (Claytech), a private company, in exchange for 6,000,000 common shares of Ateba. The Claytech acquisition was approved by Ateba shareholders at meeting held June 11, 1998. While Ateba owns a patent which facilitates the recovery of phosphate rock from clay storage areas, Claytech has made a United States patent application for a process which, subsequent to recovering the phosphate (a by-product from phosphate mining) fromthe clay storage areas, enables the remaining clay to be solidified in the form of sedimentary rock to rehabilitate the storage areas as useful land. The solidification process also consumes gypsum, which is also stockpiled as a by-product of the phosphate mining process. Therefore, Claytech's technology brings together a unified system of processes which, when combined with Ateba's existing patent, appears to be a solution to the problems associated with the disposal of phosphate mining by-products.

The letter of intent with Cargill is very significant for Claytech and Ateba. It also opens up the potential of secondary production of phosphate for Cargill. For the wider community, the Claytech and Ateba processes offer the opportunity to quickly restore the clay storage areas to a more useful purpose.

The letter of intent contemplates that Ateba will be provided access to a Cargill clay storage area in Florida, and with Cargill's assistance, Ateba will engage in a study aimed at demonstrating that an economic yield of phosphate rock can be derived from the Claytech-Ateba technology. The letter of intent contemplates that if this initial study is successful, the parties would then proceed to share the cost of building a pilot plant upon further terms and conditions to be negotiated and settled by Ateba and Cargill in a definitive agreement. If a decision is subsequently made by Cargill to proceed beyond a pilot plant to full-scale production, Cargill will acquire certain rights to build and operate a plant or plants in the United States and Ateba will be compensated with a royalty stream, based on the number of tons of phosphate rock produced, with minimum royalties payable in each year.

For shareholders of Ateba, the letter of intent with Cargill is important for several reasons:

-- Claytech and Ateba have a unified system of processes embodied in

a patent and a patent application in this processing field;

-- Cargill is one of the largest producers of phosphate in the

world;

-- Cargill will provide its assistance to Ateba and Claytech in the

initial study phase of the letter of intent;

-- Provided Cargill and Ateba proceed to the stage of commercial

production, Ateba will receive a yearly minimum income stream, without significant funding from Ateba and its shareholders;

-- As the study creates further credibility for this technology,

Cargill and Claytech will be able to offer this environmental benefit to other phosphate producers in the United States;

The Company's news releases are available through Canadian Corporate News' Internet Home Page: http://www.cdn-news.com.

Note to Editors: The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.

    CONTACT:  Ateba Mines Inc.
               A. C. A. Howe, 416/282-3569
               416/286-0795  (FAX)
               or
               Ateba Mines Inc.
               David Krofchak, 705/682-9198