News ReleasesMay 10, 2005 EXPLORATION UPDATE FOR THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC; AXMIN HOSTS PRESIDENTIAL VISIT TO BAMBARI Toronto, Ontario – May 10, 2005, AXMIN Inc. (AXM-TSX Venture) is pleased to provide an update regarding the ongoing US$6 million exploration program and report on a Presidential visit at its 100% owned gold projects in the Central African Republic. Of this expenditure 90% will be spent on the Bambari Permits with the remainder to be spent at the Pouloubou Permit. Bambari Permits The program focus is currently at Passendro where the drilling is being directed both towards the conversion of the previously announced inferred resources to higher resource grade categories and to the definition of indicated resources at other recent discoveries in the same area. The two wholly-owned reverse circulation (RC) rigs and the two wholly-owned diamond core rigs have completed 19,500 metres of RC and 3,700 metres of core drilling respectively since mid January 2005. It is expected that this phase of the program will be completed during the second quarter 2005, whereupon an independent resource estimate will be prepared and the new resource figures will be announced. These rigs will then commence testing the further target sites recently identified from geochemistry and mapping. "Ongoing exploration success justifies the substantial budget, with AXMIN’s primary goal being the establishment of sufficient resources at Passendro to initiate a pre-feasibility study" stated Dr. Jonathan Forster, AXMIN’s CEO. "It is AXMIN’s belief that the Bambari gold belt is capable of supporting a significant gold mining operation, with ore drawn from several sites feeding into a central processing facility. To that end AXMIN recently awarded Golder Associates (UK) Ltd a contract to undertake an environmental scoping study reflecting our commitment to fast track exploration towards development." The infill resource drilling is being undertaken at 40 metre line spacing to a maximum depth of 100 metres in order to define the shallow oxide portion of the mineralisation. Much of this oxidised material is soft and could be amenable to low cost mining without significant drilling and blasting, with gold potentially recovered through a combination of gravity and cyanidation. AXMIN recently hosted a visit to its exploration site by the country’s President, the Minister of Mines and other cabinet colleagues. The President, the Minister of Mines and local administration officers expressed strong public support for AXMIN's activities at Bambari and an understanding of the important social and economic benefits that will accrue to the country through the development of a gold mining industry along the lines of those recently developed in Mali and Tanzania, and now in Burkina Faso and Niger. The government has invited AXMIN to submit its proposals for a "Mining Convention" which will establish the fiscal and legal framework under which the future mining operation and continuing exploration will operate and has promised to expedite these negotiations. Such mining conventions are an important and standard part of mining operations in Francophone Africa and typically provide the security of tenure and fixed conditions of operation for the life of a project. Pouloubou Permit At Pouloubou, located about 150 km southeast of Bambari, follow up soil sampling of the previous reconnaissance grid has more closely defined three initial targets (>50ppb gold in soil), ranging in length from 1,500-2,500 metres, which will be tested by shallow reconnaissance rotary air blast ("RAB") drilling in the current quarter. AXMIN is a mineral exploration company with a strong focus on gold in highly prospective properties across central and west Africa. For more information regarding AXMIN visit our website at www.axmininc.com. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
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