CAU Canyon Resources Corp

Canyon Resources Announces Status of El Aguila Gold/Silver Project in Mexico GOLDEN, Colo., July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Canyon Resources Corporation (AMEX:CAU), a Colorado-based mining company, announced today the results of exploration drilling and preliminary engineering work by third-party experts on the El Aguila gold/silver project in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Exploration drilling (3,944 meters in 69 drill holes) has encountered a continuous zone of high-grade gold/silver mineralization in a shallow massive quartz body. Twenty-three of the holes encountered mineralization with greater than 4 meters thickness of average grade greater than 3.5 grams/tonne (0.10 oz/ton). A Preliminary Resource Study by Ore Reserves Engineering indicates that the deposit contains the following tonnage and grade of gold/silver-bearing rock. Cutoff Tonnes Gold Silver Ounces Gold Ounces Silver Grade (gm/tonne) (1,000s) (g/t Au) (g/t Ag) (1,000s) (1,000s) 4.0 241 8.24 67.3 63.9 521 2.5 343 6.79 62.9 74.9 694 1.0 1,098 3.07 38.8 108.5 1,368 The gold/silver mineralized body extends continuously, at a low angle dip, from the surface to a depth of 60 meters. As such, it appears to be amenable to open-pit mining. Metallurgical test work by Resource Development Inc. indicates that the medium/high grade material yields greater than 90% recovery of contained gold and from 70-80% recovery of contained silver with minus 150 mesh grinding of the rock. A preliminary engineering scoping study by Lyntek Inc. indicates potential economic viability of an open-pit mining and milling operation of the deposit, if the tonnage of the mineralized material can be increased with subsequent drilling. The El Aguila property is located approximately 120 km southeast of the city of Oaxaca and is readily accessible (3 km) from the Pan-American highway. It comprises 3,728 hectares (14.4 square miles) of mineral rights which include extensive areas where Tertiary rhyolite domes and flows have intruded, altered, and, in part, replaced Cretaceous limestones, sandstones, and Tertiary andesites. The rhyolites have been extensively silicified and mineralized, yielding stockworks of quartz veins and massive, thick quartz veins and "mantos", particularly replacing limestones in sub-horizontal orientations. Abundant post-mineral faulting has broken the rhyolite and Cretaceous sedimentary sequence into numerous fault blocks. The exploration drilling to date has mainly tested the potential of one fault block. Adjacent fault blocks apparently contain the same sequence of rocks with surface occurrences of gold/silver-bearing siliceous masses which need to be drill tested at depth. Canyon Resources has the right to earn a 50% joint venture interest in the El Aguila property through the funding of a total of $3.5 million of exploration and development expenditures on the property. Canyon has funded $500,000 of the required expenditures to date, from September 2003 through May 2004. Canyon has until the end of August 2004 to decide whether to fund the remaining $3.0 million to earn the 50% interest or, alternatively, to convert the previous funding into 600,000 shares of common stock of Gold Resource Corporation (GRC), a private Colorado corporation, an affiliate of and owned 36% by U.S. Gold Corporation, a public Colorado corporation listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board (OTC BB: USGL). GRC currently has approximately 5.35 million shares outstanding. "Canyon-funded drilling to date has discovered and confirmed the existence of a continuous body containing high-grade gold and silver mineralization with apparent economic significance should we be able to expand the tonnage. The property certainly has other nearby target areas with surface gold occurrences which are encouraging for the potential for tonnage expansion. The Company is currently evaluating whether or not to continue with continued financing of the El Aguila project," said Richard H. De Voto, President. In addition to producing gold from its Briggs Mine in California, Canyon owns the Seven-Up Pete Venture which has invested $75 million in the 10.9 million ounce McDonald Gold Project in Montana, which is constrained from current development by the anti-mining initiative, I-137. The Company has filed suit against the State of Montana seeking to overturn I-137 or to obtain a damage award, which could be as much as $500 million, for the lost value of the Seven-Up Pete properties, including the McDonald Gold Project. A proposed new initiative, I-147, which has received more than enough signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot, if enacted by a vote of the citizens on November 2, 2004, would allow the use of cyanide recovery at open-pit gold mines with appropriate engineering practices and environmental safeguards and would restore all mineral rights to their status of November 1998. The I-147 campaign website is available at http://www.yeson147.com/. Actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statement whether expressed or implied in this news release. The following risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to vary include, but are not limited to: speculative nature of mineral exploration, precious metals prices, production and reserve estimates, production costs, cash flows, environmental and governmental regulations, availability of financing, judicial proceedings and force majeure events. Most of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, SEE http://www.canyonresources.com/. DATASOURCE: Canyon Resources Corporation CONTACT: Richard H. De Voto, President of Canyon Resources Corporation, +1-303-278-8464 Web site: http://www.yeson147.com/ Web site: http://www.canyonresources.com/

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