News Releases

February 7, 2002

AXMIN DRILLING PROGRAM COMMENCES IN MALI

Toronto, Ontario – AXMIN Inc. (AXMIN) (AXM-CDNX) is pleased to announce that a 5,000 metre drill programme has commenced on the Kofi project in the Republic of Mali. The programme, comprises both reverse circulation (RC) and rotary air blast (RAB) drilling and will target the Kofi SW prospect area where previous drilling delineated several high-grade mineralised structures Zone B and Zone C.

Drilling will also test a mineralised structure identified at Kofi SW Zone A, and will test previously undrilled, well defined soil geochemistry targets at Kofi SE and Kofi NE – leaving at least a further 12 significant drill targets remaining to be followed up on the Kofi project.

Kofi SW Zones B and C are located 2.5 kms from each other, and both consist of two subvertical mineralised structures with a northerly trend. At both prospects, the mineralised structures were previously intersected by a single fence of drill holes, with the potential strike length of each in the order of 350 to 400 meters metres as interpreted from soil geochemistry. The drilling programme is designed to test the strike extensions of these structures to a depth of 80 metres and to look for adjacent parallel structures

At Kofi SE the drilling targets represents one of several in the area and is outlined by a north trending soil geochemistry anomaly defined at the 100 ppb threshold with a strike length of 1,000 metres and which is terminated to the north by a 500 metres wide zone of artisanal workings in an alluvial channel. Internally, the anomaly is characterised by sample values that commonly exceed 300 ppb, and in several cases exceed 1 ppm. The second new drill target at Kofi NE has a strike length of 600 metres, with artisanal mining in the immediate vicinity.

Elsewhere AXMIN has commenced field exploration in both the Central African Republic and in the Republic of Ghana in preparation for drilling programmes scheduled to commence over the next two to three months.

For further information contact:

Jon Forster
Chief Executive Officer
AXMIN Inc.
T: +44-1233-665600
F: +44-1233-643728
E-mail: info@axmininc.com