Expatriate Purchases Atna's Interest in Wolverine Deposit, Yukon.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2004

Expatriate Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:EXR) is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement with Atna Resources Ltd. to purchase all of its 39.4% interest in the Wolverine Joint Venture. Upon completion of the purchase, which is subject to regulatory approval, Expatriate will own a 100% interest in the exceptionally high grade Wolverine deposit and surrounding exploration lands. The consolidation of interests in the Wolverine deposit paves the way for advancing the completion of a feasibility study and development of Wolverine as an important new silver-gold-zinc-copper-lead mine.

Wolverine Highlights:

- Wolverine is rich in precious metals containing about 75,000,000 ounces of silver and 352,000 ounces of gold.

- The high-grade Wolverine deposit is key to development of the Finlayson District as a major base-precious metal mining camp.

- Reactivation of permitting and financing of Wolverine underground exploration and development.

Wolverine Joint Venture

The Wolverine Joint Venture owns 112 square kilometres of mineral claims in the eastern part of the Finlayson District in the Yukon Territory. These claims host the Wolverine deposit that contains 74.7 million ounces of silver, 352,000 ounces of gold, 1,738 million pounds of zinc, 212 million pounds of lead and 182 million pounds of copper within a pre-National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource in all categories of 6,237,000 tonnes grading 371 g/t silver, 1.76 g/t gold, 12.66% zinc, 1.55% lead and 1.33% copper (Westmin Resources Ltd., 1998).

In November 2000, Hatch Associates Ltd. ("Hatch") provided a mining reserve estimate in the Probable category for the Wolverine Deposit of 3,470,000 tonnes grading 339 g/t silver, 1.49 g/t gold, 12.42% zinc, 1.36% copper, and 1.45% lead. This reserve estimate was part of a prefeasibility study on the Finlayson Project that was originally filed on SEDAR, November 9, 2000. It should be noted that the November 2000 estimation of reserves by Hatch predates National Instrument 43-101; however, the reserve should be considered as a Probable Mineral Reserve. The reserve estimate was prepared by Qualified Person Mr. John Nilsson, P.Eng. of Nilsson Mine Services Ltd and audited by Qualified Person Mr. Callum Grant, P.Eng., Manager, Mining and Geology for Hatch. Both diamond drilling and engineering work are planned for the proposed underground program in 2005 that will enable the conversion of additional mineral resources into mineral reserves.

Purchase Agreement Terms

Expatriate will acquire Atna's 39.4% interest in the Wolverine Joint Venture for cash payments of $2 million, the issuance of 10 million common shares (the "Transaction Shares") and 5 million share purchase warrants (the "Warrants"), each Warrant entitling Atna to purchase one common share of Expatriate at a price of $0.32 for two years from issuance, and the granting to Atna of a royalty on silver and gold production from the Wolverine property (the "Precious Metals Royalty"). An initial payment of $1million is to be paid on closing ("Closing") and the remaining $1 million (the "Final Amount") is, subject to a deferral right, to be paid on the six-month anniversary of Closing.

The Transaction Shares and Warrants will be issued on Closing and held in escrow pending payment of the Final Amount on the six month anniversary, or deferral of the payment to the thirteenth month anniversary of the Closing. If Expatriate elects to defer payment of the Final Amount, the Transaction Shares and Warrants will be released from escrow to Atna and the Final Amount will carry interest, payable monthly at the annual rate of 12%. If upon deferral, the Final Amount is not timely paid the transaction will terminate and Expatriate will not have acquired any of Atna's interest in the Wolverine Joint Venture.

The Transaction Shares are subject to a shareholder's agreement that provides for Atna to hold the shares for a period of one year from Closing, subject to certain exceptions, and provides Expatriate with a right, so long as Atna holds more than two million common shares of Expatriate, to find a purchaser for any of the Transaction Shares that Atna may wish to sell. In addition, for a period of one year from Closing, Atna will vote all of the shares of Expatriate held by it in favour of the management nominees for election as directors of Expatriate at all meetings of shareholders at which directors are to be elected. Upon issuance of the Transaction Shares, Atna will hold an approximate 11.7% equity interest in Expatriate.

The Precious Metals Royalty provides for Atna to receive 4% of net proceeds from the sale of silver and gold when the silver price is greater than US$ 5.00 and less than US$7.50 per ounce. The Precious Metals Royalty increases to 10% of net proceeds from sale of silver and gold when the silver price is over US$7.50 per ounce. No royalty is payable to Atna on zinc, copper and lead.

Yukon Silver-Zinc Project Development Plan

Recent improvements in the zinc concentrate markets and the rapid increase in selenium price has changed the market outlook for concentrates from the Wolverine deposit. The outlook for silver is also positive (see www.expatriateresources.com ).

Expatriate has been evaluating the development of Wolverine in conjunction with the Logan deposit located in southern Yukon (see March 29, 2004 news release). Changing market conditions now make it feasible to re-evaluate Wolverine as a standalone mine. Expatriate has resumed planning and permitting of the proposed underground test-mining and exploration program to provide the additional information required to finalize the Wolverine portion of a bankable feasibility study.

Overview

Consolidation of the ownership of the Wolverine deposit, is a significant step forward in enhancing Expatriate's ability to advance Wolverine to production. The high grade of mineralization at Wolverine is key to development in the Finlayson District and Expatriate intends to expand exploration on its extensive claim holdings to expand its resource base, concurrent with ongoing engineering studies and economic evaluation of Wolverine. Exploration and engineering of the Logan deposit will be set aside until the evaluation of Wolverine is complete.

Expatriate is a base and precious metals exploration and development company with projects in Yukon, Nunavut, Ontario, California and Chile. The Company's projects are well situated on the Pacific Rim to meet the growing needs for metals in China and other developing countries in Asia.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.

12G: 82-4603

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.