North Atlantic Resources Acquires Option On Drilling At The Kourouba Gold Project In Mali

North Atlantic Starts Drilling at the Kourouba Gold Project in Mali

FEB 19, 2007 - 13:30 ET

North Atlantic Resources is pleased to announce that it has started its first drilling program on the Kourouba gold project in southern Mali. The Company announced that it acquired an option on the 185 square kilometer Kourouba gold exploration permit in southern Mali on February 5, 2007. The Kourouba project is located in the Koulikoro Region, 110 kilometers southeast of the capital, Bamako. The property covers a strike length of 14 kilometers of prospective stratigraphy in the Birimian Yanfolila greenstone belt.

The main target of the drilling program is a north-trending, continuous, gold in soil anomaly, with samples containing at least 100 parts per billion gold over a nominal strike length of 2,500 meters and a peak value of 1,420 parts per billion (1.42 grams per tonne gold). The gold anomaly is illustrated on the attached map.

The Company plans to complete an initial 3,700 meters of air core drilling to determine the location, nature, and trend of gold concentrations in saprolite and bedrock over a strike length of 2,500 meters. Contingent upon the results of the air core drilling, the Company will complete an induced polarization survey and additional drilling.

The Company has 8 gold projects comprising 1,676 square kilometers of mineral rights in Mali. Since 2002, the Company has made gold discoveries at the Kantela project (2004), FT project (2005), and Massala project (2006).

The FT gold deposit is estimated to contain 4,977,000 tonnes grading 1.0 grams gold per tonne for a total of 218,800 ounces of gold in the inferred category and 5,956,000 tonnes grading 1.15 grams gold per tonne for a total of 160,700 ounces of gold in the indicated category. The Company is currently reviewing the results of the latest phase of drilling and assaying completed in 2006. The purpose of the review is to (i) construct a geological wire frame to compliment the existing assay wire frame, (ii) to re-sample certain drill holes to verify the quality of previous assays, as part of routine quality control, and (iii) to make recommendations for further work on the deposit and on exploration targets elsewhere on the property. It is anticipated that an induced polarization survey will be completed over the deposit and its extensions in February, 2007, before the next phase of drilling is completed. The Company anticipates that future drilling would be greatly optimized by the ongoing review of the geology and grade distribution of the deposit.

The drilling at the FT Gold Deposit was completed by the professional staff of West African Drilling Services. The drill core samples were both HQ and NQ size and were cut in half by a diamond saw on site. Half of the core from one meter long samples was shipped to the Analabs Morila facility, and ALS Chemex, Vancouver and analyzed for gold by fire assay-AA on a 50 gram sample charge. Two meter long intervals of RC samples were split on site and sent to Analabs Morila facility and analyzed for gold by fire assay-AA on a 50 gram sample charge. The Company inserts a standard, duplicate, and blank in each batch of 20 samples analyzed to monitor laboratory accuracy and precision. The drafting was completed by Burt Consulting Services.

At the Kantela project, the Company is completing a review of the drilling at Zone 2 in order to complete a preliminary model of the gold zone, and to complete additional drilling, if warranted.

At the Massala project, the Company is planning to complete an induced polarization survey in the area where a reverse circulation drill hole intersected 12 meters grading 3.26 grams per tonne gold in 2006. Contingent upon the results of the geophysical survey, the Company will complete additional drilling in order to trace the extensions of the gold zone.

In addition to the aforementioned gold projects, the Company continues to review data from several promising gold exploration prospects in Mali and anticipates that additional projects will be acquired in 2007.

In the neighboring Republic of Niger, the Company acquired the Abelajouad uranium exploration permit in 2006 and has 4 pending uranium exploration permit applications in Niger. The Company anticipates that it will begin exploration work on its uranium exploration projects in Niger in the first quarter of 2007. In addition, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Selier Energy Ltd., has acquired the 20,000 square kilometer Macina oil and gas exploration permit in central Mali and, is preparing an appropriate plan for the financing and exploration of the project.