Corriente Resources Inc.: Positive Feasibility Study Completed on Mirador Copper-Gold Starter Project, Southeast Ecuador.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Corriente Resources Inc. (TSX:CTQ) -

- Starter project to open up major new copper-gold district

Corriente announces the completion of a positive feasibility study at the Mirador project which confirms the economics of a 25,000 tonne/day open pit milling operation. The prime consultant for the study is AMEC Americas Limited, who completed the resource estimation, the metallurgical studies and the mine model. The zero discharge tailings facility was designed by Knight Piesold Ltd. and Merit Consultants International Inc. prepared the final capital cost. The Indicated Mineral Resources internal to the pit are estimated to be 111 Million tonnes at an average grade of 0.67% copper and 0.22 g/t gold (with an average cut-off of 0.4% Cu). Mirador represents one of the only significant greenfield copper-gold projects in the world which can be ready for construction within the next twelve months. The project will now move into the financing stage and proposals are being considered from both lending institutions and potential mining partners. For the equity component of the project, Corriente will consider the sale of a portion of Mirador. In addition, Corriente plans to complete an amendment to the current feasibility study which will look at an expansion of the starter project to a throughput of up to 75,000 tonnes/day to optimize the large resource base. An optimization study completed last October showed steadily improving economics as the ore throughput was increased.

Feasibility Highlights

- The project is forecast to annually produce approximately 128 Million pounds of copper, 32,000 ounces of gold and 395,000 ounces of silver, during the first five years of production

- The mine model indicates a 12 year mine life

- At a long term copper price of US$1.00/lb the study indicates a Pre-Tax Internal Rate of Return for the project of 15.5% and a Net Present Value of US$78 Million

- At US$1.45/lb which is near the current price of copper, the study indicates a Pre-Tax Internal Rate of Return for the project of 40% and a Net Present Value of US$419 Million

- The capital cost for the project is US$204 Million

- The application for the Environmental License is expected to be submitted by the end of May

The initial 25,000 tpd development phase for the Mirador project is able to support the infrastructure requirements of a large copper operation and includes allowances for expansion in the future. For example, the tailings site has up to three times the required storage capacity, meaning the operation can expand significantly in size without needing to locate new tailings facilities. As part of the expansion study, diamond drilling is currently underway at Mirador with the objective of outlining additional mill feed. This drilling is taking place within the estimated 310 Million tonnes of Indicated Mineral Resources (0.65% Cu and 0.2 g/t Au) and 315 Million tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources that were announced in late September 2004. Ken Shannon, President of Corriente (and Qualified Person for this disclosure) commented, "The positive feasibility study confirms the economics of our starter project which can serve as the platform for an expanded operation at Mirador and ultimately the district. With completion of this important milestone, we have moved Mirador another step toward the start of production. We are seeking the most optimum proposal to finance the project and plan for construction to start as soon as practical."

The feasibility study will be available in final report form within 30 days and will be posted to www.sedar.com, as well as www.corriente.com. As copper prices are currently significantly higher than the modeled US$1.00/lb, a table has been prepared which shows the pre-tax IRR and NPV of the project at higher copper prices (including gold and silver credits). Most of the project's capital costs and operating costs have been set at current price levels except for shipping, smelting and refining which were projected as long term averages in an independent marketing study carried out by Butterfield Mineral Consultants.

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                Pre-Tax     After-                       Pre-Tax IRR-
Copper Price        IRR   Tax IRR       Pre-Tax NPV        no silver
---------------------------------------------------      -----------
$US1.00           15.5%     13.4%     $US78,000,000            14.3%
---------------------------------------------------      -----------
$US1.15           24.6%     21.4%    $US191,000,000            23.6%
---------------------------------------------------      -----------
$US1.30           32.6%     28.2%    $US305,000,000            31.8%
---------------------------------------------------      -----------
$US1.45           40.0%     34.4%    $US419,000,000            39.2%
---------------------------------------------------      -----------

Cautionary Note: Silver grade estimates based on feasibility metallurgical studies have been used for this cash flow as silver is not included in the current resource model. The silver distribution database is from 42 drill holes and 561 audit samples and fill-in assays are underway for the entire 98 hole data-set to provide confirmation for the silver distribution at Mirador. A column without silver credits is included for comparison purposes.

Feasibility Details

Assumptions for the financial conclusions of the feasibility study include the following:

Copper Price     US$1.00/lb        Gold Price      US$400/oz
Silver Price     US$6.50/oz     Discount Rate             8%

The estimated Indicated Mineral Resources included in the mine plan total approximately 111 Mt grading 0.67% Cu and 0.22 g/t Au (with an average cut-off of 0.4% Cu). Approximately 91 Mt of waste rock will be removed over the mine life, resulting in an average strip ratio of about 0.8:1. The mine plan is based on a contract mining company providing ore to a conventional copper concentrator at a rate of 25,000 t/d (9.125 Mt/a). All facilities are designed for this throughput and operate on a continuous basis, 24 hours/day, 365 days/annum. Average production is estimated to be about 174,000 t/annum of copper concentrate over the mine life of 12 plus years.

Run-of-mine ore will be crushed in a gyratory crusher. The mill flow sheet selected for Mirador will be a conventional copper-gold porphyry flowsheet, with relatively coarse primary semi-autogenous and ball mill grinding to about 150 micronsm followed by copper rougher flotation, concentrate regrind to 30 micronsm, and cleaner flotation and dewatering. Concentrates produced are predicted to average 29.8% copper at a recovery of 91%. Gold recovery is expected to average 47%. A laboratory analysis of concentrates indicated that no significant deleterious penalty element impurities are present. The concentrate will be trucked via the existing road network in the area to a port facility in Machala for shipment to smelters. Tailings from the process will be impounded in a zero discharge tailings pond; water will be reclaimed from the tailings pond and reused in the process.

The major infrastructure required to develop the property includes road access upgrades, a run-of-river hydroelectric project and power line. The hydroelectric development is not part of the scope of this study and the supply of power is expected to be through an independent build-own-operate arrangement. A 95 km power line will have to be constructed to connect Mirador to the hydroelectric power  station. The power demand of the project is about 28.3 MW. Seasonal variations in the output of the hydroelectric project result in regular purchases of spot power from the existing power grid which is within three kilometres of the project. A 2.7 km access road is needed to connect the plant and administration areas to the existing highway that passes by the property. Access between the plant area and the mine will utilize existing roads, including a new 5 km section to the crusher and pit area. A 10 km overland conveyor will connect the process plant and the crusher. The estimated life-of-mine operating costs are US$3.07/tonne mined or US$5.21/tonne milled. The estimated cash cost to produce a pound of copper for the first five years is approximately US$0.65/pound.

The Mirador feasibility study has identified several potential opportunities to enhance the economics of the project. One area which has been conservatively modeled is pit slopes which average slightly more than 39 degrees. Corriente is currently carrying out a program of oriented core drilling and geotechnical data collection which is expected to significantly improve the quality of the geotechnical database and potentially allow for steeper pit walls which would reduce the amount of waste rock mined. Additional drilling currently underway at Mirador is aimed at upgrading Inferred Mineral Resources, currently classified as waste within the mine model, to Indicated Mineral Resources so they can be incorporated into the mining plan.

The Environmental Impact Assessment and Community Consultation processes are continuing at Mirador and documents are planned for submission to the government in late May which should lead to the granting of the required environmental license by late summer.

Corriente controls a 100% interest in over 50,000 hectares located within the Corriente Copper Belt. The Belt extends over a 20 x 80 kilometre area in southeast Ecuador and is one of the only new undeveloped copper districts available in the world today. The Belt currently contains three copper and copper-gold porphyry deposits, Mirador, Panantza and San Carlos. Additional exploration activities will be ongoing, as six additional copper and copper-gold exploration targets have been identified in the Corriente Copper Belt to date.

The Company will host a conference call to discuss the results of the feasibility study on Thursday, April 14, 2005 at 8 am pacific and 11 am eastern time. Live Conference Access numbers are 416-695-5259 or 1-888-789-0150. Instant Replay Access is available until April 28, 2005 at 416-695-5275.

Kenneth R. Shannon, President

Disclosure statements as required by National Instrument 43-101 are available at our website www.corriente.com.

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

Corriente Resources Inc. (TSX:CTQ)