Corriente Resources: Order of Magnitude Study Completed on Panantza-San Carlos, Ecuador; High-Grade Starter Pit and Increased Resources Target of Next Phase of Development.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2001

Corriente (TSE:CTQ.) has completed work on an initial order of magnitude study on the Panantza and San Carlos projects within the Corriente Copper Belt, Ecuador.

The study was prepared to give management and directors information as to the potential economic viability of the district and to provide guidance for continued funding of the porphyry copper prospects under exploration. The study was completed with a combination of in-house qualified professionals including Ken Shannon, P.Geo. and John Drobe, P.Geo. as well as independent professionals including John Chapman, P.Eng., Dave Makepeace, P.Eng., Gary Hawthorne, P.Eng. and A. Jay Collins, P.Eng. The resource modeled in the study was calculated by Geospectrum Engineering and consists of a combination of indicated and inferred resources as defined by regulations of National Instrument 43-101. The resource estimate is as follows:

Project          Tonnes      Copper (%)             Status
Panantza      148,000,000       0.82          Indicated Resource
San Carlos    230,000,000       0.85          Inferred Resource

The order of magnitude study analyzed a conceptual mining plan, which would process a total of 226 Million tonnes of material with an average grade of 0.81% copper. Note that the mining plan focuses on copper production from a resource base that is smaller than the inferred and indicated resource at Panantza and San Carlos and has a grade that is lower than the average at the two prospects. The study did not take into consideration any potential for additional revenue from gold or molybdenum credits. The mining plan proposed conventional milling, floatation processing and transport of concentrates via slurry pipeline to the coast. Capital costs for the 50,000 tonne/day project were approximately $500 Million U.S. The study shows that such a mining plan would produce an Internal Rate of Return ranging from 20.5% at $1.00 U.S./lb copper to 6.7% at $0.75 U.S./lb copper (with a Net Present Value in the former case of $228 Million U.S.). This assessment is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources at San Carlos that are too speculative geologically to have detailed economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment will be realized. Further drilling is needed at San Carlos to upgrade the resource from the inferred category to that of an indicated resource such as at Panantza.

The study identified no fatal flaws in the project and indicated two key areas of focus for the continued development of the projects in Ecuador. Firstly, the project economics could be greatly improved with processing of higher-grade material in the early years of a new mine. This means that exploration for a higher-grade starter pit is of major importance to the development effort. The attractive economics of high-grade copper is why the next phase of drilling in Ecuador will focus on the Warintza property, which has some of the highest-grade drill intersections in the camp. Secondly, it was noted that there would be opportunities for unit cost reduction with a larger operation in Ecuador. This would be accomplished by expanding the size of the resource available for processing at Panantza and San Carlos as well as the other copper prospects in the Belt. This will be an area of focus for continued development of the district. Corriente management is encouraged by the positive conclusions of this study and looks forward to additional discoveries that can be considered under an improved study later in 2001.

Corriente Resources Inc. is a Canadian based, copper exploration company. The company's main activity is the advanced exploration of copper prospects within the Corriente Copper Belt joint venture with Billiton PLC and Lowell Mineral Exploration. The Corriente Copper Belt is a copper porphyry district that extends over an area at least 80 km north - south and 40 km east - west in southeast Ecuador. To date, diamond drilling has outlined four separate porphyry deposits: Panantza, Mirador, San Carlos and Warintza. These four deposits are part of a series of copper porphyry targets contained within the district.

The independent Qualified Person for the required technical report covering this disclosure is Dave Makepeace, P.Eng. All assaying was done by Bondar Clegg with preparation of samples carried out in Ecuador and analyses being completed in Vancouver, BC. The copper analytical method for San Carlos analyses is multiacid digestion with Atomic Absorption finish and for all Corriente analyses is 34 Element ICP with total digestion of the 30 gram samples. Local supervision of the project for Corriente was provided by Luis Quevedo, Manager of the Corriente office in Quito, under the program management of J. David Lowell, Tucson, Az.

Kenneth R. Shannon, President

The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.