Ashton Closes $4 Million Offering

Ashton Mining has closed a private placement, issuing a total of 2,635,000 units at a price of $1.50 each for gross proceeds of $3,952,500.

Each unit consists of one common share and a half warrant. A whole warrant entitles the holder to acquire, not later than July 31, 2004, one common share for $1.95. No commission was paid under the offering. The company announced the private placement announced on May 15

Two companies subscribed for the units, a Rio Tinto company and SIDEX.

QIT Fer-et-Titane, part of the Rio Tinto group, has subscribed for 2,000,000 units. As a result, QIT holds 2,857,142 of the 36,705,363 common shares of Ashton that are now beneficially owned by the Rio Tinto group. This figure represents 63.0 percent of the 58,297,890 common shares that are currently issued and outstanding.

SIDEX, societe en commandite, a limited partnership established by the Government of Quebec and the Solidarity Fund QFL, has subscribed for the remaining 635,000 units. The mandate of SIDEX is to promote the diversification of the Quebec mining industry. SIDEX does so by investing in companies whose exploration initiatives have the potential to identify new mineral resources in both existing and prospective mining districts.