Corriente Resources Inc.: Rights to Taca-Taca Project and Polymet Plant Site Sold.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2003

Corriente Resources Inc. (TSX:CTQ) controls the Taca-Taca project, which is a medium-grade copper porphyry prospect located in Salta Province, Argentina. Corriente discovered the deposit in 1995 through a program of exploration drilling with BHP International. Corriente has not worked on the project for several years and does not view the deposit to be a core asset of the company. The economics of the project are hampered by a thick leached cap that overlies the deposit and makes access to the mineralization difficult. Consequently, Corriente has agreed to sell a 100% interest in a Cayman Island holding company, which controls the Taca-Taca project, to CRS Copper Resources Corp. ("CRS") of Vancouver. The agreement calls for Corriente to receive a total of US $2.15 million dollars and 300,000 shares of CRS in a series of payments (mostly within a five-year period). The initial cash payment of US $25,000 has been received and the first installment of 100,000 common shares of CRS is due in October 2003.

Separately, Corriente has also reached agreement to sell a 100% interest in another Cayman Island holding company, which controls the Polymet smelter and plant site and other minor Bolivian assets to an individual for a total consideration of US $350,000. An initial payment has been received of US $183,000 with the balance to be paid in a series of payments within the next twelve months.

Corriente intends to use the funds from the above transactions to advance core assets in Ecuador that have a number of advantages including high grade, simple metallurgy, low stripping ratio, low capital cost, proximity to a port, abundant water supply and access to power.

Corriente is a Canadian-based junior resource exploration company that has a global copper exploration alliance with BHP Billiton. Corriente focuses its operations on copper and copper-gold projects at the advanced drilling stage. The Company's main activity is the advanced exploration of copper prospects within the Corriente Copper Belt joint venture with BHP Billiton 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.

Kenneth R. Shannon, President

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