News Releases

January 24, 2003

EXERCISE OF COMPENSATION OPTIONS

Toronto, Ontario – AXMIN Inc. (AXM-TSX Venture) announces the exercise of 25,000 of the 1,144,700 Compensation Options issued to the agents to the financing closed concurrently with the completion of the reverse take-over transaction on November 21, 2001 wherein AXMIN Inc. (formerly Asquith Resources Inc.) acquired all of the outstanding shares of AXMIN Limited. Each Compensation Option entitles the holder to purchase one common share of AXMIN at a price of Cdn$0.25. As a result of this exercise 25,000 common shares have been issued for total proceeds of Cdn$6,250. 1,119,700 Compensation Options with an exercise price of Cdn$0.25 each and expiring on May 21, 2003 remain on issue and outstanding.

Post exercise of the aforementioned compensation options, AXMIN has a total of 72,715,851 common shares issued and outstanding.

AXMIN is a mineral exploration company with a strong focus on gold in highly prospective properties across Africa, principally in the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsi bility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

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This press release includes certain "Forward-Looking Statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results and future plans and objectives of AXMIN, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AXMIN’s expectations are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in AXMIN documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture and other regulatory authorities.