Consolidated Silver Tusk Mines, Ltd. Issues Announcement.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2000

Consolidated Silver Tusk Mines, Ltd (CKS) is pleased to make available information pertaining to work taking place on their PT Karya Bukit Utama (KBU) property in Indonesia.

The Company is in the process of establishing the most economical and financially feasible methods to extract and mine their gold and silver deposits, and which of the existing equipment will be most effective in conjunction with the new equipment, for the extraction of first grade pure manganese, as well as gold and silver.

Rock and Tailings Sampling

Two hundred and ten rock chip, channel and tailings samples were acquired and assayed for gold, silver and other elements from July to December 1999. Metallurgical studies have indicated that significant quantities of manganese within the mineralized vein structures may be of economic importance; therefore several samples were assayed for manganese. The best gold, silver and manganese assay results were obtained from brittle, brecciated, slightly siliceous and manganiferous tuffs within the Cookhouse Pit which was excavated into the west side of the new access road. However, manganese appears to be present in all mineralized quartz veins on the property, including the veins of the existing underground mine. This has also been confirmed from tailings, which are derived largely from ore from the mine. Assays of surface samples reveals near-surface concentrations averaging about 1% to 1.5% manganese. Several samples of vein material from stored diamond drill core was also assayed and averaged about 0.5% manganese. All samples were assayed by Intertek Testing Services (Bondar Clegg) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Five closely-spaced and en-echelon east-west trending trenches were excavated to locate and channel samples across the 2 to 5 meter wide mineralized quartz vein structure which is the principle producer to date on the property. The samples were taken from the surface of the deep crown pillar over the mine from which about 40,000 tonnes of ore was mined from 1988 to 1992. Only one trench sample, TR25E99019, returned a significant assay of value (Table No. 6).

A 15-meter diameter circular pit a few meters north of the mill was sampled. The pit, excavated in 1998, surrounds the now-nonexistent trench TR-96-No. 2 which had 2.68 g/T Au and 88.3 g/T Ag over 22 meters. Fifteen face bulk samples were taken, each from a face 2 meters wide and 2 to 3.5 meters high. Significant values are shown in Table No. 6.

Tailings Sampling Specific

Four random samples of tailings were taken from depths of up to 1 meter from the series of tailings ponds immediately below the mill. The assay results combined with the fact that the tailings ponds hold most of the approximately 40,000 tonnes of material mined to date indicate that there is a considerable gold, silver and manganese resource in the tailings. It is known that gold and silver recoveries have historically been very poor. It is believed that more than three quarters of the precious metals content of the original ore remains within the tailings. The assays of three tailings samples, TAG-1 to TAG-3, are presented in Table No. 6.

     TABLE No. 6: Significant Assay Results from 1999 Exploration Work


Sample     Location       Au      Ag      Mn   Sample Description
                         (g/T)    g/T)    (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5015   Cookhouse pit     2.87     594   1.07%  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5016   Cookhouse pit     2.41     579     n/a  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5018   Cookhouse pit      4.1     538   0.35%  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5025   New access road    8.7      30     n/a  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5026   New access road   12.7      44     n/a  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5028   New access road   19.2      26   0.83%  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5096   New road into     1.11     194     n/a  Mineralized quartz vein
       "granite"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5097   New road into     0.32      70     n/a  Mineralized quartz vein
       "granite"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TR25E99019  TR-25E       5.13     386   3.45%  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
151969 Near TR-97-4      0.24      56   2.29%  Mineralized quartz vein
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TAG-1  Tailings pond     3.99     603   1.77%  Tailings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TAG-2  Tailings pond     2.83     342   1.03%  Tailings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TAG-3  Tailings pond     2.16     241   1.14%  Tailings
----------------------------------------------------------------------

(n/a: not assayed)

Geological Mapping

Geological mapping of the property in 1999, supported by petrographic thin section studies, has established that three separate areas of the property previously believed to be granites are in fact highly altered andesites. Four rock specimens from outcrops previously mapped by Robertson Research International in Jakarta and Great Britain examined granites and have all been classified as andesites. This has positive implications for the exploration potential of the area immediately south of the base camp, an area that has not been properly explored due to the earlier belief that it is granite and therefore would not host economic mineralisation.

One previously reported granite intrusion is situated within an ovoid area between 100 meters and 300 meters south of the mill site; centered at line 9800N, station 10000E on the property grid. Line 9800 N of the IP survey was conducted across the center of the area and the IP profile provides no indication of an intrusive body in this location. Rather, the line 9800N profiles are similar to the profiles of the other survey lines conducted across mapped andesitic volcanic rocks to the north and south. The IP similarities from grid line to line include a similar range of numerical values (resistivity, chargeability, and metal factor) and a similar variety of apparent geological structures. This area previously mapped as a granite intrusion (Gewargis "Granite Unit No. 1") was then further investigated and two new gold-silver mineralized veins were discovered; one in a dry creek bed, another within a new road cut. Both of these showings are on strike with the mineralized zone (Zone A) outcropping in the South Gate Trench and in the Cookhouse trench. Two rock chip samples taken from the new road outcrop about 200 meters south of the mill, in the center of the area previously mapped as a granite and from an outcrop of a 60 centimeter wide, north striking vein returned important results. (Samples 5096 and 5097 in Table No. 6).

Conclusion

It appears that CKS is in a unique position, whereby the manganese problems in the recovery process of the past, can actually be resolved through a new method of recovery. Process Research Analytics in Vancouver are currently in the process of completing the final phase of test work, to determine the most effective recovery methods, on the KBU site. Although no conclusive results are available at this time, strong indications exist that adequate recoveries of gold, silver and manganese can possibly be achieved. The company hopes to make preliminary results available shortly.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

CONSOLIDATED SILVER TUSK MINES LTD.

William J. Van der Merwe

Vice President - Finance & Administration

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