Consolidated Eurocan Ventures Ltd. Reports on Tenke Fungurume.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 1996-- CONSOLIDATED EUROCAN (TSE:KEU) CONSOLIDATED EUROCAN VENTURES LTD. (the "Company") is pleased to report on the Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt project.

The Company has negotiated with Gecamines (Zaire's state owned mining company) the acquisition of Adolf H. Lundin's interest in the Tenke Fungurume deposit in Zaire. Over the past 2 1/2 years, Adolf H. Lundin has negotiated an agreement under which he could acquire a 55 percent interest in the deposit in return for cash payments and a commitment to put the property into production. The initial payment of U.S. $50 million is payable upon signing of the agreement and U.S. $40 million is due upon completion of a feasibility study (within 24 months) and a final U.S. $160 million upon commercial production (within 72 months). It is expected that the agreement with Gecamines will be signed by the end of August. An agreement providing for a 10 year tax-free period is also being negotiated with the Zairian Government. The Company is proposing to issue to Adolf H. Lundin 30 million shares for his interest in the project.

Eurocan proposes to commission a full feasibility study along with conducting substantial work at the property. Completion of the feasibility study is anticipated within 18 months and construction of the mine and mill complex will begin shortly thereafter.

TENKE FUNGURUME

Tenke Fungurume is a 278 square kilometre concession comprised of two exceptionally rich copper/cobalt deposits. The concession is located 175 kilometres northwest of the city of Lubumbashi in the highland savannas of Shaba Province, Zaire at an elevation of 1,500 metres. Straddling the project area are the towns of Tenke and Fungurume for which the concession was named (see attached map).

The geological reserves total over 222 million tonnes @ 4.42 percent copper and 0.33 percent cobalt using a 1 percent cutoff grade of equivalent copper. The magnitude of this resource and other prospects on the property have not been fully quantified and the potential exists to increase the total resources several fold. The global resource potential is estimated at 1 billion tonnes. The proven open pittable, mineable reserves are currently 92.6 million tonnes @ 4.59 percent copper and 0.36 percent cobalt.

The Tenke Fungurume deposits have been known and studied in detail since the early 1900's. Although the deposits have never been exploited on a commercial basis, significant improvements have been made to the property. Studies emphasizing the oxide resource were first undertaken by the French Bureau d'Etudes Metallurgiques and subsequently by Union Miniere. In the 1970's, Gecamines and a consortium including Anglo American, Amoco and Mitsui spent U.S. $286 million developing the propery. The property then reverted to Gecamines. In the order of 173 kilometres of diamond core drilling, 12 kilometres of underground workings and some 125 kilometres of surface trenches and pits have been carried out on the property.

GEOLOGY

Mining in Zaire is centred in the southeastern and eastern parts of the country. Shaba Province has the greatest concentration of minerals with copper, cobalt and zinc mined in a narrow crescent known as the Copper Belt.

The carbonate stratabound copper/cobalt deposits are found in Late Proterozoic age Roan Series rocks. The deposits form a broad, strongly folded and faulted arc from Kolwezi in the west into Zambia in the southeast. The Tenke Fungurume concession lies in the northwestern sector of this overturned belt of synclines and anticlines.

In most sediment host copper deposits, mineralization is restricted to shaley sandstone units, whereas at Tenke Fungurume the shales occur with dolomitic units. This has resulted in the grades at Tenke Fungurume being several times higher than the average copper/cobalt deposit.

Economic mineralization in the oxide zone is primarily malachite, pseudomalachite and chrysocolla with heterogenite as the major oxide cobalt mineral. The depth of oxidation generally extends 50 to 150 metres below surface with depths as far as 250 metres in places at Fungurume. The predominant economic sulfide minerals are chalcocite, digenite, bornite, carrollite and chalocpyrite.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Tenke Fungurume property is serviced by paved roads and major railways. Several partially constructed major buildings are on site as well as a township with houses and recreational facilities. An airstrip on the concession can accommodate C130's and 737's and scheduled air service is available to Lubumbashi from Zaire's capital at Kinshasha as well as from Zambia and South Africa. Port facilities at Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and in South Africa can be accessed via rail. It is proposed to ship ore using the existing railway from the concession to Dar-es-Salaam. Hydroelectric power (220 kv) is readily available with a substation on the concession and water supply (surface and ground) is adequate for all requirements.

ZAIRE

Zaire has long been considered significant because of its location, resources and enormous economic potential. By rights, Zaire should have become one of sub- Saharan Africa's most developed and wealthiest countries but a number of crises following independence has created an impoverished nation in a rich land.

Zaire has now entered a new era of steadily improving political stability and foreign relationships. As part of an ongoing political reform process towards multi-party democracy, the Transitional Act of August, 1992 created a parliamentary system with an elected prime minister as Head of Government and Mobutu, as President, to remain Chief of State.

On April 8, 1994 a new Constitution Act was endorsed providing the provisions for the organization of a constitutional referendum and presidential and legislative elections and defining the functions of the relationship between the President and the Government. General and presidential elections are scheduled for 1997.

There is clear evidence that a positive change in Zairian politics is underway. The U.S. has re-appointed an ambassador to Zaire and other foreign governments have upgraded relations. As the pace of political change accelerates, the mining industry is being increasingly seen as a means of enhancing economic development. A growing number of the world's most powerful resource conglomerates are converging on the region in order to participate in Zaire's development.

Zaire has a long history of mining and a highly diversified mineral regime. While copper production has declined from 500,000 tonnes in the late 1970's to its current level of 30,000 tonnes, mining still accounts for 92 percent of export earnings.

Zaire's potential is being rediscovered and in the next few years will again become one of the largest mineral producing countries in the world. Eurocan hopes to play a significant role in Zaire's emergence as a major player in the world mining industry.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Lukas H. Lundin" President

CONTACT: Consolidated Eurocan Ventures Ltd.

Sophia Shane, 604/689-7842