Franconia Acquires Additional Exploration Lands as Part of Birch Lake PGM-Copper-Nickel Project.

Business Editors

VERADALE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2004

Franconia Minerals Corporation ("Franconia") and its joint venture partner, the Beaver Bay Joint Venture ("BBJV"), announce that BBJV, on behalf of the Birch Lake Project, has entered into a binding letter of intent to acquire from American Copper Nickel Company, Inc. ("ACNC") a wholly owned subsidiary of INCO Limited, a total of 5338.78 acres of mineral rights on the Duluth Complex, in St. Louis and Lake Counties, Minnesota. As part of its Birch Lake Project, Franconia Minerals will reevaluate the exploration and development potential of the newly acquired ACNC lands and plans exploration in the as yet unexplored but highly prospective area between the Birch Lake PGM-copper-nickel deposit and the newly acquired Maturi zone (see below).

The lands acquired were explored by ACNC and its parent company between 1950 and 1974. Extensive drilling during this period (in excess of 240,000 feet of drilling between 1951 and 1974) delineated two major mineralized zones. The northeastern Spruce Road zone contains a body of copper-nickel mineralization potentially amenable to open pit mining. This zone was extensively drilled and bulk sampled by ACNC. A second smaller, higher-grade zone of copper-nickel and PGM mineralization Maturi is located about 3 miles north of Beaver Bay's Birch Lake PGM-copper-nickel project. The Maturi zone was explored by ACNC by drilling and a test shaft. Although extensive amounts of mineralized material were delineated by ACNC, no NI 43-101 compliant studies of the area are currently available.

The mineral rights being acquired from ACNC are contiguous with the existing 9,460 acre mineral rights held as part of Franconia's Birch Lake Project. The Birch Lake landholdings now extend for more than ten miles along the prospective basal area of the Duluth Complex.

Franconia Minerals Corporation brings together a wealth of knowledge, experience and information of the worldwide minerals industry and has formed two strategic alliances with major mining companies, Teck Cominco American and Impala Platinum Holdings, to explore for and develop large, commercially and strategically critical mineral resources in an efficient and timely manner. Franconia also holds an option on the Birch Lake platinum-palladium-copper-nickel property in the Duluth Complex of Minnesota. Franconia Minerals Corporation is a Canadian corporation trading on the OFEX in London under the symbol FRA. The directors of Franconia Minerals Corporation accept responsibility for this announcement.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

FRANCONIA MINERALS CORPORATION

Brian Gavin, President

This document, which has been issued by Franconia Minerals Corporation (Franconia), has been approved solely for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, by Lion Capital Corporation Limited (Lion), 7-8 Kendrick Mews London SW7 3HG, who is authorised to carry on Investment Business by the Financial Services Authority. Lion, is acting as advisers for Franconia and to no-one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than Franconia for providing protections afforded to customers of Lion for providing advice in relation to any investment made pursuant to this announcement and makes no recommendation for the suitability of any investment, which is the subject of this announcement. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT: Although Franconia Minerals Corporation believes many of its properties have promising potential, its properties are in the early stages of exploration. None have yet been shown to contain proven or probable mineral reserves. There can be no assurance that such reserves will be identified on any property, or that, if identified, any mineralization may be economically extracted. Incorporated in Alberta Canada No. 207953670.