Press Release
February 12, 1999

On the Payne Bay project, Virginia entered into a joint-venture agreement with Osisko Exploration Ltd (“Osisko”) by which Virginia has the option to acquire a 50% interest in the property in return for $600,000 in exploration work over a 3-year period. At the same time, Osisko is committed to spend $300,000 in exploration work on the project during the same period. This project, with a surface area of 170 square kilometres, is located in the Ungava Bay region of Quebec and covers two huge mafic to ultramafic complexes totalling 31 kilometres long, very similar to the geological setting that characterizes the Raglan mining camp. Samples of massive sulphides collected on the project in 1998 have assayed up to 6.5 % Ni and 0.34 % Co. During an airborne geophysical survey 30 conductors associated with these mafic to ultramafic complexes were discovered.