June 17, 2004

TERTIARY HITS HIGH-GRADE GOLD MINERALISATION IN DRILLING AT KAARESSELKÄ , FINLAND

Significant Values Reported From All Three Target Zones
Results Include 11g/t Gold Over 4.9m And 13.5g/t Over 2.75m
Potential For Depth Extension Suggested At Vanha Zone

Several high-grade gold intersections, including 11g/t over 4.9m and 13.5g/t over 2.75m, are reported today by AIM-listed Tertiary Minerals from its first drilling programme at its Kaaresselkä gold project in northern Finland. This follows receipt of assays for the final seven holes of the 10-hole programme.

Kaaresselkä - June 2004

Click the image to the left for detail view

The Kaaresselkä claims, awarded to Tertiary last November, were previously drilled by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) which reported several intersections of better than 10g/t gold in three separate zones – Vanha, Tienvarsi and Lampi – within an area of 1.1km by 0.6km.

Tertiary’s drilling programme, designed to evaluate the controls and distribution of gold mineralisation in all three target zones, has returned “some of the best results from Kaaresselkä to date”, says executive chairman, Mr Patrick Cheetham.

These confirm that gold mineralisation is distributed over a wide area, with a number of high-grade intersections returned from both the near-surface weathered zone and the underlying fresh rock. The results have also significantly upgraded the Lampi zone as a target for further drilling, Mr Cheetham adds.

Drill hole 04KD005, located at the south-east end of the Tienvarsi zone, was designed to test the main Tienvarsi lode identified by previous GTK drilling. The intersection of 2.75m grading 13.5g/t gold (including 1.1m of 29.2g/t) from 15m depth demonstrates that this end of the zone remains open. Hole 04KD004 is located 100m along strike from the previously reported hole 04KD002 and the north-west end of the Tienvarsi zone. It returned a narrow, low-grade intersection which, nevertheless, indicates that gold mineralisation is open in this direction, the company states.

Hole 04DK007B, drilled at the western end of the Vanha zone test at depth the gold mineralisation reported by GTK (3m at 7.2g/t gold and 1.4m at 22g/t), returned an intersection of 4.9m grading 11g/t gold (including 1.1m of 39.3g/t) from a down-hole depth of 74.8m. This result is important, says Mr Cheetham, as it suggests the potential for high-grade depth extension to near-surface mineralisation at this location.

Previous drilling of the Lampi zone by the GTK returned a best result of 11.6m grading 1.32g/t gold from 24.5m depth but failed to explain a strong geochemical anomaly over this zone. Tertiary drilled two holes to test an alternative interpretation of the strike direction of mineralisation one of which, 04KD010, returned an intersection of 10.3m grading 3.88g/t gold from bedrock surface at a depth of 3.9m beneath the glacial till . The geometry of this zone is not yet understood, says Mr Cheetham, but can be investigated by trenching.

Tertiary is now undertaking additional drill core sampling and plans further core logging. In addition, it plans to carry out a detailed location survey of all the old GTK drill holes at Kaaresselkä, some of which are incorrectly recorded. This will enable the company to plan follow-up drilling programmes aimed at resource definition.

Further Information: Patrick Cheetham, Tertiary Minerals:
Tel: 01625-626203

Ron Marshman/John Greenhalgh, City of London PR Ltd.
Tel : 020-7628-5518