High grades hit at depth at Mill Canyon

Vancouver – Victoria Resource Corporation (VIT-V) has hit a 355 metre mineralized alteration zone containing high gold grades while testing the new RJR zone on the Mill Canyon property in Nevada. Victoria is earning an interest in the property from Newmont (NEM-N) which retains a back-in right.

The Mill Canyon property is situated about 1.6 km east of the Cortez Hills gold discovery in the Battle Mountain Trend, adjacent to the old Cortez and Horse Canyon mines. The RJR zone is 820 metres northwest of the Open Cut zone. The company was testing RJR while awaiting drill permits for step-out drilling at the Open Cut zone which is now scheduled to begin this month.

Drillhole OC-36 intersected 6.1 metres grading 4.04 grams gold per tonne from a downhole depth of 489.8 metres and; 25.9 metres grading 10.40 starting from 503.5 metres downhole (including 15.2 metres of 13.70 grams gold). The hole which is still not completed, has returned preliminary results of 0.1 gram gold over 111.3 metres starting from 529.4 metres downhole to a 677 metre depth.

The intense alteration and mineralized zone intersected in hole OC-36 starts from a vertical depth of 265 metres below surface. The company believes that the mineralized zone is a north-south trending, steeply southwest dipping, tabular zone, open in all directions. On surface, the zone appears as what the company describes as a large decalcified zone some 360 metres wide and 600 metres long.

Drilling continues at the RJR zone with step-out deep drilling to test the extent of the new mineralized zone.

Drilling of the Open Cut target earlier this year identified four high grade ‘Carlin type’ gold zones over an area of 185 by 125 metres within what is thought to be a larger structural corridor. High-grade gold mineralization was intersected in eight of the ten holes including OC-6 which intersected 7.6 metres of 24.5 grams gold; OC-10 with 9.1 metres of 40 grams gold; OC-12 with 3.1 metres of 66.8 grams gold and; hole OC-13 with 7.6 metres of 35.5 grams gold.

Victoria and Newmont have amended their January 21, 2003 agreement whereby Newmont may now exercise a joint venture at Mill Canyon by spending $5 million by January 1, 2006 rather than the previously agreed upon $2 million. Newmont can earn a 50% interest in the property by funding all joint venture expenditures up to 250% of the total expenditures by Victoria.

Shares in Victoria were up by 31 cents on the news, an increase of 21% to close at $1.79. The company is a key player in the Cortez Hills area where speculation has been spurred by recent drilling successes at the Cortez JV by Placer Dome (PDG-T). Victoria is an affiliate of Bema Gold (BGO-T) which holds 37% in the company.