Opawica Resolves Totua License Dispute and Surface Program Adjacent to Stenpad Gold Discovery, Ghana, West Africa, to Proceed.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 1997--(TSE OPW.) Opawica Explorations Inc. (the "Company "/"Opawica") announces that the dispute concerning Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. ("AGC") option to earn up to a 60 percent interest in Opawica's 150 sq km Totua Prospecting License (PL) and, up to, a further six 150 sq km Prospecting licenses collectively referred to as the Enchi-Wiawso licenses, located in Ghana, has been resolved.

AGC has a right to earn a 60 percent interest in the above licenses by spending US $2,250,000 on or before October 20, 1999. AGC shall ensure that at least US $750,000 in aggregate is expended on the above licenses prior to the end of October 20, 1997. Current field work has mobilized on the northwest corner of the Totua PL directly adjoining several large, 1 to 10 g/t, surface gold anomalies reported by Hixon Resources Inc. and Golden Rule Resources Ltd. from their Stenpad property. The AGC / Opawica field program on Totua consists of 24 lines, 2 km in length, commencing at Stenpad's southern boundary and extending southwesterly along trend at 250 to 500 meter spacings to cover an area of about 15 sq km. Samples are being taken at 25 m intervals, approximately 35 cm in depth and about 2 kg per sample. The estimated 1,280 samples, to be taken during this initial program, will have each entire 2 kg sample milled to 200 mesh and assayed for gold.

In addition, on the Totua PL, approximately 12 km southeast from the above surface sampling grid and on a sub-parallel zone, RC and RAB drilling has intersected gold mineralization from surface to a depth of 70 m. RC drilling has revealed mineralized zones both in quartz veins and host shales and it is recommended during 1997 that further in-fill soil sampling be carried out on this zone. This will result in a better definition of anomalous zones to be followed by further exploration consisting of trenching, geophysical surveying and drilling.

At the 900 sq km Enchi-Wiawso properties, for 1997, AGC will carry out a program of photogeological interpretation over the Bibiani Shear Zone ("BSZ") and extension of the existing soil geochemical coverage along the BSZ and adjoining areas on 1000 m by 100 m centers. Screening of the remainder of the Enchi-Wiawso licenses with regional stream sediment geochemistry and field review of all anomalous features defined by the above program will define targets for follow up field work for surface sampling and drilling.

Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. will act as manager and operator for all of the programs detailed above herein.

CONTACT: Opawica Explorations Inc.

D.M.R. (Dan) Clark, 416/ 597-1480

or

Opawica Explorations Inc.

Chris Robertson, 416/ 597-1480