CAU Canyon Resources Corp

GOLDEN, Colo., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Canyon Resources Corporation (AMEX:CAU), a Colorado-based mining company, reports that on January 9, 2006, the State of Montana filed its brief with the United States Supreme Court in opposition to the Venture's Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the case of Seven Up Pete Venture et al. v The State of Montana, as permitted by Court rules. At the same time, the Rocky Mountain Law Foundation has submitted an amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, in support of the Venture's Petition. The Rocky Mountain Law Foundation is a non-profit, public interest legal center dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system. The State of Montana's brief was supported by an amicus curiae brief submitted by the Montana Environmental Information Center, et al. The Venture now has until January 19th to submit a reply brief to respond to the State of Montana's brief. Once this final brief has been submitted the case will be docketed for conference where the nine Supreme Court Justices confer on whether or not this case has sufficient national or legal significance to be heard by the Supreme Court. A total of four justices must agree to hear a Petition for the case to be heard before the full Court. This process can be expected to be completed prior to the end of February 2006. "We believe, as does the Rocky Mountain Law Foundation, that the questions presented in our case have sufficient merit to require consideration and clarification by the Court. The Venture has suffered a grievous loss with the taking of value from its properties without compensation, which is a right normally protected under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. Should the Supreme Court decide not to hear this case some level of recourse may still exist in the lower courts as our claim filed in the US District Court remains open," states James Hesketh, President & CEO. This case was initiated after the passage of the 1998 I-137 ballot initiative in the State of Montana. Passage of this initiative resulted in a law that was narrowly crafted to specifically outlaw the use of cyanide to recover gold from ores mined by open pit methods. This was the first of its kind in the US. By the time the initiative passed, the Seven Up Pete Venture had spent over $70 million drilling, permitting and engineering on its properties in Montana, including the 10.6 million ounce McDonald gold project. The passage of this initiative rendered the property worthless as no other gold recovery process technology has been proven to be economically viable for these ores. The Company filed complaints before Montana state courts to recover the taken value of its properties, protect its mining leases and question the legality of the I-137 initiative. On June 8, 2005, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the I-137 initiative and denied that a taking had occurred. The Montana Supreme Court also affirmed cancellation of the Venture's State mining leases. On July 19, 2005, the Venture filed its motion to reinstate its reserved Federal claim in the US District Court for the District of Montana in Helena, Montana. The District Court has not yet ruled on whether the Federal claims should be reinstated and heard on their merits. On November 4, 2005, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, the Seven Up Pete Venture, combined with private plaintiffs, filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, meeting the statutory deadline for filing such petition. About Canyon Resources Canyon Resources, based in Golden, Colorado, was formed in 1979. The Company has a history of precious metals exploration success and can claim a number of significant discoveries. Canyon currently owns the Briggs Mine in California and is currently evaluating the re-start of that operation. Canyon is also evaluating the potential development of the Reward Gold Project in Nevada. This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, among others, our belief regarding the merits of the McDonald litigation and the loss to the Company resulting from the I-137 initiative. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others: the outcome of the McDonald litigation as well as other possible judicial proceedings; and other risk factors as described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of receiving new information, the occurrence of future events, or otherwise. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: James Hesketh, President & CEO or Valerie Kimball, Investor Relations (303) 278-8464 (303) 278-8464 DATASOURCE: Canyon Resources Corporation CONTACT: James Hesketh, President & CEO, or Valerie Kimball, Investor Relations, both of Canyon Resources Corporation, +1-303-278-8464 Web site: http://www.canyonresources.com/

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