Ariane Gold Completes IPO and Finalizes Acquisition Agreement

Ariane Gold Corp. completed an initial public offering by way of rights offering on August 29, 2002. Ariane's shareholders subscribed for 10,622,063 subscription receipts, for gross proceeds of $7.4 million. The IPO concludes a series of transactions that began with Ariane's acquisition of Hope Bay Gold Corporation Inc.'s French Guiana gold exploration assets prior to the completion of Hope Bay's business combination with Miramar Mining Corporation. On May 21, 2002, just before its combination with Miramar, Hope Bay distributed special warrants to its shareholders entitling them to acquire Ariane common shares. On June 12, 2002, Ariane completed an additional financing through the distribution of 31.46 million special warrants for gross proceeds of $22 million. The distribution of common shares upon the exercise of all of the special warrants was qualified under Ariane's prospectus. The agents for the financing transactions were Dundee Securities Corporation, Canaccord Capital Corporation, Griffiths McBurney & Partners and Sprott Securities Inc.

On August 16, 2002, Ariane also finalized an agreement with Asarco Exploration Company, Inc. and Asarco Exploration Holdings Company, Inc. to acquire, for US$16.4 million, all of the shares of Asarco Guyane Française, SARL, the core asset of which is the Camp Caiman gold project.

Ariane was represented in-house by Carole Plante, corporate secretary and counsel, and by Stikeman Elliott with a team that included Jay Kellerman, Dee Rajpal, Raymond McDougall, Robert Mason, Mark Katz, Dean Moroz and Anjali Banka (corporate/securities) and David Glicksman and Timothy Hughes (tax). Christopher Barry of Dorsey & Whitney LLP provided advice on U.S. securities matters. French counsel for Asarco transaction were Jean-Claude Petilon, Daye Kaba, Elizabeth Terron, Isabelle Prodhomme and Liliane Doukouré of Coudert Frères in Paris. The agents were represented by Steve Vaughan, Michael Ward and Michael Burns of McMillan Binch LLP.

Lawyer(s)

Mark F. Katz