Osisko Options Additional Gold Properties in Brazil.

Business Editors

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

Osisko Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:OSK) ("Osisko") is pleased to announce that it has signed a second letter of intent with Amazonia Mineracao Ltda. ("Amazonia"), a private Brazilian exploration and development company, to acquire an interest of up to 70% in two gold properties located in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil (Morro do Carneiro and Braco, the "Properties").

Preliminary verification by Amazonia on the 831 hectare Morro do Carneiro property indicates that it includes two gold showings and three areas of gold stream sediment/soil geochemical anomalies. The main gold showing is hosted within a 500 meter-long shear zone. A single channel sample collected by Amazonia across the width of this shear zone near the main showing returned an average grade of 12.0 g/t Au over 8 meters. Amazonia also reports that the 1000 hectare Braco property includes a quartz vein system exposed over a 200 meter-long strike length. Nine grab samples collected by Amazonia along this vein system returned values of 0.6 g/t to 76.5 g/t Au.

Osisko's acquisition will be made through a registered Brazilian limited liability partnership ("LLP") in which Amazonia will have a 100% interest. The mineral license of the Properties will be transferred into the LLP, and Osisko has the right to acquire a 70% interest in the LLP from Amazonia in consideration of (i) a minimum US$800,000 in exploration expenditures on the Properties before November 1, 2004, by which time an indicated gold resource must be defined and a Final Exploration Report ("FER") must be submitted to the Brazilian government; (ii) cash payment of R$150,000 (approximately US$52,750), payable to Andaus-Engenharia e Construcoes Ltda., the original vendor of the Properties (the "Vendor"), of which R$50,000 is payable immediately and the balance payable at the end of a sixty day due diligence period, and iii) cash payment of US$100,000 to Amazonia, payable within one month of acceptance of the FER by the Brazilian government.

Once Osisko has acquired its 70% interest in the LLP, it will finance all further exploration on the Properties, up to the point of feasibility. Final acquisition, feasibility and development costs shall be solely financed by Osisko in the form of a loan to the LLP, which will be repaid from first production.

Final acquisition cost of the Properties by the LLP will consist of either of the following two payments to the Vendor, to be chosen at the sole discretion of the Vendor: i) a US$2,000,000 cash payment, half of which is payable within one month of the Brazilian government issuance of a Mining Concession and the other half of which is payable over the first year of production, or ii) payment of US$10 per ounce of gold defined in reserves, payable within one month of the Brazilian government issuance of a Mining Concession. The Vendor will, in addition, retain a Net Smelter Royalty of US$7 per additional ounce of gold defined in reserves following the final acquisition of the Properties.

The letter of intent allows for a 60 day period from the date of signing in which time Osisko must, at its own cost, complete a due diligence on the property and draft a formal agreement. Due diligence will include soil/rock sampling of the property, verification of land tenure and of the underlying agreement between Amazonia and the Vendor. Further details on the geology and extent of gold mineralization on the Properties will be provided once the due diligence work has been completed. This transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Osisko, in collaboration with Amazonia, is aggressively pursuing property acquisitions in Brazil with the objective of discovering and developing economic near-surface gold deposits.