Pifher Receives Approval from Shareholders to Merge with Echo Energy Inc.

TORONTO -- Pifher Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PFR) announced today that it has received the required approval from its shareholders with regards to its agreement to merge with Echo Energy Inc., a privately owned gas exploration company. Pifher had previously received conditional approval from the

The merger will be effected through the amalgamation of Echo and 1593485 Ontario Inc. ("Subco"), a wholly-owned special purpose subsidiary of Pifher, pursuant to an amended and restated pre-amalgamation agreement dated June 11, 2004 among Pifher, Echo and Subco. Pifher owns approximately 19.14% of Echo's outstanding common shares, all of which will be cancelled in the amalgamation and replaced with shares of the corporation to be formed as a result of the amalgamation of Subco and Echo ("Amalco"). Amalco will be 100% owned by Pifher upon completion of the Amalgamation. Upon completion of the Amalgamation, Echo shareholders other than Pifher will receive 1.2575 newly issued common shares of Pifher in exchange for each of their Echo common shares. Pifher will issue approximately 10.4 million Pifher shares in total pursuant to the terms of the merger, which will increase the total number of Pifher shares outstanding after the merger to approximately 17.1 million. Further announcements will be made in connection with the completion of the merger and the resumption of trading in Pifher shares. Further information regarding the Merger and Pifher and Echo and their respective gas properties is set forth in the Joint Management Information Circular of Pifher and Echo, dated June 30, 2004, which has been filed on SEDAR and which may viewed at www.sedar.com.

Shareholders also passed a special resolution empowering the board of directors of Pifher to split the common shares of Pifher on the basis of a ratio of post-split shares to pre-split shares to be determined by the board of directors and not to exceed 3:1.

Additionally, the following directors were elected at the meeting:

Salvatore Fuda - Mr. Fuda is and has been Chairman and director of Pifher since June 2002. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ontex Resources Limited (TSX) from 1986 to December 1998 and he is and has served as Chairman of the Board of Ontex Resources Limited since that date. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Micromem Technologies Inc. (OTC-BB) from June 2000 through to February 13, 2002.

Gary Conn - Mr. Conn is and has been President and a director of Pifher since March 1999 and President and a director of Echo since August, 2000. He is and has been Executive Vice-President, Treasurer and a director of Ontex Resources Limited since December 1998; and prior thereto, since 1990, he was President of Faymar Gold Mines Limited, a private Ontario corporation that amalgamated with Ontex Resources Limited in December 1998.

Joseph Fuda - Mr. Fuda is and has been President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Micromem Technologies Inc. since February 13, 2002. Prior thereto he served as Manager, Strategic Alliances for Micromem since February 2001. Prior thereto, he served as a consultant to Micromem since November 2000. Prior thereto he served as a Vice-President and a Director of IPO Capital Corp since November 1998.

Andrew Brandt - Mr. Brandt has served as Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario since February 1991.

Robert Moore - Mr. Moore is and has been President of Technicair Ltd., a private corporation based in London, Ontario since September 1979. He is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.), and holds a B.E.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario.

Oliver Nepomuceno - Since April 1993, Mr. Nepomuceno has been an investment banker for Intel Trust S.A., a Swiss investment company based in Lugano, Switzerland.

Michael Hunter - Mr. Hunter is the Operations Manager for both Pifher (since December 2001) and for Echo (since December 2000). He was previously Deputy Chief Inspector, Petroleum Resources, at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources from 1986 to 1996, where he was responsible for the Ministry's inspection department covering London, Simcoe and Aylmer, Ontario.

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements about plans and expectations regarding properties, reserves, transactions and opportunities, capital resources and future financial results are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from those expressed. These uncertainties and risks include changing gas and commodity prices and currency exchange rates, demand for gas, lack of success of future exploration and development, competition and other factors discussed from time to time in the company's filings with the Ontario Securities Commission.

Issued Capital: 6,654,404 Common Shares

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor any securities regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of this news release.