Progress at Fischer-Watt's Mercedes Project.

Business Editors

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2004

Fischer-Watt Gold Company, Inc. (OTCBB:FWGO) is in the process of planning its next stage of exploration at its high-grade Mercedes gold-silver property located in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The deposit is in the form of a steeply dipping vein system that outcrops at surface. Near-surface drilling of the vein was carried out several years ago by Meridian Gold, who was exploring the property at that time. To further develop proven and probable reserves it will be necessary to drive exploration tunnels along the length of the vein. In order to defray some of the costs of this mining, Fischer-Watt is investigating the possibility of recovering some of the precious metals in the excavated vein material. This could be achieved by scalping off an easily liberated component of the gold and silver mineralization in a low cost, pilot-sized, gravity separation plant. Metallurgical test-work, to evaluate the feasibility of carrying out such interim processing, has recently been successfully completed by Resource Development Inc. in Denver, Colorado.

A composite sample, representative of a large segment of the currently known portion of the Mercedes vein, was assembled from several of the rotary percussion holes that had been drilled by Meridian Gold. This sample assayed 23.19 grams of gold per tonne (0.74 ounces Au/ton) and 259.8 grams of silver per tonne (8.35 ounces Ag/ton). The test results indicate it would be possible to recover between 42.9 and 48.9% of the gold and 17.2 to 31.0% of the silver values by using a simple gravity separation system. The liberated precious metals would be collected as a gravity concentrate that could then be smelted and further refined. The remaining unrecovered gold and silver values, which are largely amenable to a conventional cyanidation leach process, would be retained in the tailings and stored for reprocessing when the project goes into full production.

In an earlier news release, Fischer-Watt had noted that the silver values found to-date, in the near-surface oxidized portions of the Mercedes vein, were in a silver chloride mineral called cerargyrite, or horn silver. It was further noted that this mineral is often found overlying deeper silver sulfide deposits in arid regions such as this location. Additionally, an important constituent mineral in silver sulfide deposits is tetrahedrite, which can contain significant amounts of antimony. The mineralization in the Mercedes vein does contain significant traces of antimony, thereby strengthening the hypothesis that the Mercedes vein may host a deeper silver/gold sulfide deposit in addition to the oxide ore that has been found to-date. The planned underground workings in this current stage of the oxide zone exploration will also provide excellent locations for underground drill stations to test for the deeper sulfide targets.

Fischer-Watt Gold Company Inc., located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, is publicly traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol FWGO. In addition to the Mercedes property, the Company is developing its La Balsa open pit copper oxide property in the state of Michoacan, Mexico. La Balsa is located very close to the industrial port city of Lazaro Cardenas that provides superb infrastructure for the project.

For an up-to-date broker's report on Fischer-Watt please contact Rich Radez, Vice President Precious Metals, at David A. Noyes and Company 1-800-285-1700.

Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the 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 projected in the forward-looking statements.