Desert Sun Drilling Program Intersects Major New Zone At Canavieiras.

Business Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2004

DESERT SUN MINING CORP. (TSX: DSM) reports positive results from the first underground drill hole at Canavieiras. The former Canavieiras mine is located 3 km north of the processing plant and is located in a block bounded by faults that is approximately 1.2 km long and 400 metres wide. In contrast to the main conglomerate trend, Canavieiras is characterized by moderate folding resulting in structural upgrading of gold mineralization in the reefs. Past production, primarily from the Piritoso and Liberino reefs, in the Canavieiras Mine totaled 458,247 tonnes at a grade of 8.65 g Au/t. DSM work has focused on evaluating the full stratigraphic package hosting the favourable conglomerate beds which is estimated to be over 300m thick. Major targets include:

- Hollandez-Maneira reefs covering a target area of 500m by 200m about 20m above the mine workings;

- MU and LU reefs covering a target area of 160m by 220m about 50m below the Canavieiras mine workings; and

- Potential high grade extension zone in a target area 130m by 120m in the Piritoso reef adjacent to the old stope in the southern end of the mine.

The first hole of the program, CAN-18 was drilled from a crosscut on the east side of the old mine workings to test the Hollandez reef which is just above the Piritoso and Liberino reefs that were previously mined. This hole intersected 3.96 g Au/t over a true width of 5.0m within a wider intersection grading 2.57 g Au/t over 10.4m true width. This intersection was from 0 to 11.6m in the hole which was drilled at an angle of +45 degrees.

Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration commented: "The results from this initial hole are very encouraging and combined with historical data indicates excellent potential for outlining a significant mineral resource at Canavieiras."

The Hollandez reef is typically 15 to 20m thick with significant gold mineralization occurring in the lower part of the reef. The reef extends along a north-south strike for at least 1km of which 500m of this strike length would be readily accessible from existing mine workings in the Canavieiras Mine.

Significant results from new and wide spaced historical holes are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary of Significant New and Historic Drilling Results.

Hole No.(1)     From    To(m)  Gold Interva  True    Depth
            (m)       (g/t) 1(m)   Width   Below
                               (m) Surface(2)
                                    (m)
CANAVIEIRAS - HOLLANDEZ REEF

NEW DRILL HOLE
CAN-18               N8758458
Dip +40                0.00           8.02   3.34 8.02 7.2         82
            Incl.      0.00           5.53   3.96 5.53 5.0         79

HISTORIC DRILL HOLES
MC36                N 8758528
Dip 0 deg.            64.25          80.42 9.81 16.17 11.3        155
                                            6.75 cut to
                                             30g/t
AC14                N 8758456
Dip +65 deg.           0.00          12.63 2.08 12.63 12.4         71

AC 24               N 8758445
Dip +50 deg.          39.46          47.25  2.14 7.79 7.80         42

MC4                 N 8758272
Dip +60 deg.          30.57          38.55   3.29 7.98 8.0         68

MC 37               N 8757972
Dip 0 deg.             5.65          14.93   2.12 9.28 5.9         90

MC 32               N 8757962
Dip -71 deg.          25.40          36.50  4.61 11.10 5.2         83
                                            1.74 cut to
                                             30g/t

MC 38               N 8757947
Dip 0 deg.            10.59          40.97 2.02 30.38 14.9         72
            Incl.     31.75          40.97   6.05 9.22 4.5         72

CAN5                N 8757857
Dip -90 deg.         127.51         131.56   2.43 4.05 2.5        240

CAN 8                N 757800
Dip -60 deg.          70.78          77.21   2.12 6.43 3.2         60


    (1) New holes are NQ diamond drill core size; Historic holes are
BQ or AQ diamond drill core size
    (2) depth calculated based on midpoint of intersection

Drilling is continuing at the Joao Belo Sul-Joao Belo Mine area and Morro do Vento. A large backlog of samples at the laboratory due to the holidays is expected to be cleared in the next 2-3 weeks and results will be released when available. Regional exploration is in progress on the major extension to the Serra do Corrego Formation and on the Pindobacu Outlier area. Drilling is planned in these areas in the latter part of Q1 after the rainy season has ended.

DSM has contracted Boart Longyear Geoserv to provide three underground drilling machines for Canavieiras and three hydraulic surface drilling rigs for the Joao Belo Sul-Joao Belo Norte and Itapicuru (Basal Reef) areas which will significantly expand the meterage of drilling completed per month at Jacobina. In addition Boart Longyear will provide a compact tracked surface drill capable of drilling 200m long NQ sized drill holes to complete shallow drill holes and definition drilling on several targets.

Assaying for the program was carried out by Lakefield Geosol, an ISO 9002 laboratory based in Brazil, using fire assay on 50 gram pulps. Check assaying is routinely carried out, by ALS Chemex in Vancouver, on 10% of sample pulps and 5% of sample rejects. Security is maintained at the core logging and sampling facility. Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the scientific and technical work on the program.

Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual developments or results may vary materially from those in these "forward-looking statements".

Desert Sun Mining is a Canadian gold exploration and development company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (www.desertsunmining.com).

NOTE: There is a Map available on CCNMatthews' website at:

Figure 1: Cross Section showing Drill Hole CAN-18

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