Birim Acquires Gold Prospect From Semafo in Ghana.

MONTREAL -- Birim Goldfields Inc. (TSX:BGI) ("Birim" or the "Company") and Semafo inc. (TSX:SMF) ("Semafo") announced today that Birim has acquired the Tinga Prospecting Licence through the acquisition of all of the shares in the capital of Ebi (Ghana) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Semafo.The Tinga Prospecting Licence covers a 43.8 square mile area and lies only 12 kilometers west of Birim's Kuri gold prospect.

Work carried out by Semafo started in 1995 with a series of geochemical surveys. Results showed an extensive gold anomaly centered upon the known galamsey activity. In 1996 and 1997, a trenching program was initiated and a zone known as "Far East" was traced over a strike length of more than 1,000 meters in a northeast-southwest direction. Surface indications showed the average thickness to be 4-5 meters with an average grade of 5.0 g/t gold per tonne.

In 1999-2000, Semafo undertook a total of 8,308 meters of reverse circulation drilling (100 holes). The work focused on testing the mineralization down to 75 meters. The drilling results showed the Far East gold-bearing structure to extend over a strike length of 1,400 meters. An internal estimate by Semafo gave 1,334,300 tonnes at 3.31 g/t containing 142,000 ounces as indicated resources. It is understood that this resource is not in accordance NI 43-101. No exploration program has been carried out on this property since then.

The Far East gold zone is underlain by the same geological environment (Dixcove granites) as Birim's Kuri prospect thereby increasing the economic potential of this area of Ghana. Birim will now embark on a drilling program which will test lateral and depth extensions of the Far East Zone.

Denis Simoneau, President and Chief Executive Officer stated: "this acquisition reinforces Birim's strategy of maintaining its 10-year-old focus in Ghana and of seeking to generate ounces which could lead to a further business transaction along the lines of the Dunkwa agreement and the retention of a royalty interest. This will be a very active and exciting period for Birim: trenching and drilling on Bui; intensive target definition on the newly acquired licenses on the Bibiani-Sefwi Belt; and Golden Star's increasing activity on the Dunkwa royalty concession."

Semafo received 3,300,000 common shares of Birim for the shares of Ebi (Ghana) Limited, therefore becoming Birim's second largest institutional shareholder. The number of common shares of Birim outstanding is now 51,426,604.

Birim is a royalty-based exploration company and trades on the TSX under the symbol BGI. Semafo, who trades on the TSX under the symbol SMF, is a mining company whose mission is to explore, develop and mine major gold deposits in West Africa. Semafo currently operates the Kiniero mine in Guinea and the Samira Hill mine in Niger.

More extensive information on Semafo can be found on its home page at http://www.semafo.com

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Birim Goldfields Inc. (TSX:BGI)

Semafo inc. (TSX:SMF)