go to ELK + News Release: March 4th, 2005 Drilling intersects High-grade Gold at the Elk Project, B.C. In 2004 a diamond drill program was completed at the company's wholly owned Elk Gold Deposit. The program consisted of 10,265 meters of NQ drilling in 44 holes. The Elk Gold deposit is located roughly two kilometres (km) south of Highway 97 and 45 km southeast of Merrit in the Okanagan area of Southern British Columbia. The mine is known for its very high gold grades and in the 1990's; 51,750 ounces of gold were produced from 18,400 tons of quartz vein ore extracted from the B vein system in open pit and underground operations. A resource estimate carried out by Giroux Consultants in May 2004 based on data up to and including the 2003 drill program reported global resources as shown below.

Four mesothermal vein systems have been drilled in the Siwash area the B, WD, Bullion Creek and GCW Vein Zones. The resource only incorporates results from the B and WD vein zones where the vast majority of work has been carried out over the history of exploration at the Elk Deposit. The B zone with a strike length of 900m, was tested in the 2004 program to 400 meters down dip. Seven holes were drilled into the B zone to test a southwest shoot to depth and to fill in between existing 50 meter intercepts below the existing mine workings. Two holes drilled in 2004 (SND04400 and SND04403) are the deepest holes drilled to date on the B vein system. Both holes returned significant gold values (see table below), confirming continuity in the vertical dimension. The WD zone with a strike length of 710m has been tested to 450m down dip. The program extended the known perimeter of the WD zone 150 metres to the east and 100 meters downdip in 50 meter step-outs. The parallel GCW and Bullion Creek vein zones are relatively recent discoveries and have only been pierced by 16 and 6 drill holes respectively. The GCW zone with a strike length of 300m has been tested to 130m down dip and the Bullion Creek (BC) zone has been tested to a depth of 75 meters. All completed holes intersected the projected zones. Two holes were abandoned due to poor ground conditions. Geological interpretation and re-assaying has been completed and a summary of composited drill results greater than 10 g/t-meters Au is listed below. True widths are calculated to a minimum width of 0.5 meters based on core to vein angles and weighted according to width and specific gravity.

As reported previously, in 2001 a possible extension to the B and WD vein systems was found roughly two km along strike to the east, on the other side of an area of overburden cover and no outcrop, as part of a trenching program. Grab samples of the vein material taken at surface returned averaged analyses of 0.922 oz/ton (31.6 grams/tonne) gold and 3.04 oz/ton silver (104.4 grams/tonne). A 0.5 by 0.5 m panel sample of the same vein taken in the wall of the trench returned 0.635 oz/ton gold (21.8 grams/tonne) and 0.96 oz/ton (32.9 grams/tonne) silver. This discovery was extremely significant as it added about two kilometres of prospective, unexplored strike length to the high-grade vein system. No drilling has yet been carried out in this area. The qualified person and supervisor for the 2004 exploration drill program is Wojtek Jakubowski, P. Geo. All samples were analyzed at Acme Analytical Labs in Vancouver using wet geochemical, fire assay and metallics techniques. Duplicate and blank samples were included in the sample shipments sent to Acme and confirmed procedural quality. Check assays were carried out by ALS Chemex Labs in Vancouver. A 2005 exploration program of drilling and other work is now in the planning stage. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Duane Poliquin The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed nor accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release which has been prepared by management. Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements as that term is defined in the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. Such forward -looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results. Such risks and uncertainties are detailed in the Company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.