SCIDEV LTD — Capital/Financing Update 2003

Jun 16, 2003

ASX and Media Announcement

17 June 2003

Ashburton secures \$1.5 million debt facility from Macquarie Bank Testwork on Wirralie sulphide ore returns 93.3% gold recovery

Ashburton Minerals Limited today announced that it has secured a \$1.5 million debt facility from Macquarie Bank Ltd that substantially advances the Company's planned acquisition of the Drummond Basin gold project in North East Queensland from Placer Dome Asia Pacific.

The Company also announces that it has received an interim report from independent hydrometallurgists Intec Ltd, confirming a gold recovery of 93.3% from concentrate of Wirralie sulphide ore.

Ashburton has previously announced that it has reached an agreement with Placer to acquire the Drummond Basin Project, which hosts the Wirralie mine. An Independent Technical Report from RSG Global indicates that the Wirralie mine has the potential to support an 83,000 oz oxide resource open pit mining operation over a two year mine life.

Ashburton is acquiring the Drummond project because of the opportunity to generate early cash flow by recommencing gold mining operations at Wirralie. The Wirralie oxide resource has the potential to deliver an operating cash flow of almost \$12 million over a two year mine life at a gold price of A\$550/oz.

Under the terms of the debt facility, Macquarie has agreed to issue Performance Bonds for the Drummond project up to a limit of \$2.75 million, of which it has agreed to debt fund \$1.5 million.

Ashburton Managing Director Tom Dukovcic said that the debt facility was a vote of confidence in the Company.

"Securing this facility indicates the growing appreciation that Ashburton has an opportunity to achieve substantial profits from a project not suited to the big companies," Mr Dukovcic said.

To fund the Drummond acquisition and subsequent mine implementation studies, Ashburton is seeking to raise \$4.5 million through a combination of debt and equity.

"Having secured \$1.5 million via debt, the Company is now able to finalise the details of its Prospectus to raise the remaining \$3 million," Mr Dukovcic said.

In consideration, Ashburton will issue Macquarie with call options to the value of \$500,000, exercisable at the prospectus raising price and expiring 30 June 2006. Any options exercised will be offset against the debt facility.

Laboratory testwork results reported by Intec Ltd have indicated a gold recovery of 93.3% from concentrate of Wirralie sulphide ore.

Telephane 61 8 9321 6600 Facsimile 61 8 9321 6633 Email sshburton@global.net.au Web www.ashburton-minerals.com.au Mr Dukovcic said that while the laboratory testwork was positive, it would be several years before mining of sulphide ore is required.

"Our development plan is to begin mining the relatively straight forward oxide resource while using the time and the cash flow to expand the sulphide resource base.

"During this period, we will also aim to refine the optimal processing route for the sulphide resource, preferably one with a low capital requirement and low ongoing operating costs," Mr Dukovcic said.

Metallurgical testwork on Wirralie refractory sulphide ore is continuing at both Intec Ltd in Sydney and at MIM Ltd's Hydrometallurgical Research Laboratories (HRL) in Brisbane.

Intec has developed the Intec Refractory Gold Process ("IRGP"), a halide-based process operating under atmospheric pressure and moderate temperature. Importantly, the oxidation of the sulphides and the leaching of the gold take place in the one process, representing potentially significant savings in cost and time.

During the Intec trial, sample material was ground to a P80 of 30 microns. Intec reports that no attempt was made to optimise either extraction efficiencies or leach retention times and with further testwork both higher extraction efficiencies and lower leach retention times are likely to be demonstrated.

The IRGP results from the Wirralie concentrate sample are shown in the table below.

.		Extraction Efficiency
Au	29.2 g/t	93.3%
Ag	$10.5$ g/t	>95%
As	0.61%	98.1%
Fe	16.9%	97.1%

Table 1, Wirralie Sulphide Ore Refractory Concentrate

Ashburton and Intec are involved in discussions which could see Ashburton being the first Australian company to carry out detailed metallurgical studies at Intec's pilot-scale plant, currently under construction, in Sydney in early 2004.

Intec Managing Director Philip Wood said:

"The IRGP is a one-step process that operates at atmospheric pressure and moderate temperature with low retention times, delivering significant cost saving benefits in the recovery of gold from refractory ores with important environmental advantages."

Additional testwork on Wirralie sulphide material continues to be undertaken by HRL using their Albion Process.

About intec

Intec is an independent ASX-listed hydrometallurgical processing company that has developed the Intec Refractory Gold Process (IRGP), a halide-based process for the recovery of gold from refractory gold concentrates at moderate temperature and atmospheric pressure. The IRGP differs from the hydrometallurgical pressure oxidation and bio-oxidation processes in that a halide rather than a sulphate medium is employed. Halides, like cyanide, form strong complexes with gold to facilitate its dissolution and subsequent recovery by carbon adsorption. In the IRGP the leaching of

gold is undertaken by a halide-based liquor and not by cyanide. Importantly, therefore, the oxidation of the sulphides and the leaching of the gold take place in the one process in the one circuit. Apart from not requiring cyanide, the IRGP's other major environmental advantage is that it converts the ore sulphides into a stable form readily suitable for disposal.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Dukovcic Managing Director Ashburton Minerals Ltd 08 9321 6600

Warrick Hazeldine Porter Novelli Tel: 08 9386 1233 Mob: 0417 944 616

Philip R. Wood Chief Executive Officer Intec Ltd 02 9351 6741

Visit: www.ashburton-minerals.com.au