Channel Resources Exploration Resumes on Five MajorTarget Areas on the Somifa Permit -- Burkina...

Business Editors

KELOWNA, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

Channel(TSE:CHU.)

Channel Resources Ltd. ("Channel") announces that the first phase of the year 2000 exploration program has begun on the SOMIFA Permit (1,725 km2), located in Burkina

Faso, West Africa. This program is designed mainly to further assess five major regional Target Areas showing comparable regional signatures as the Goulagou Target Area, hosting the Goulagou gold deposit. The Goulagou Deposit, discovered last year, has an Inferred Resource, previously reported by Channel, estimated at 16.3 Mt at 1.2 g/t Au (635,000 oz of gold) including 6.5 Mt at 1.75 g/t Au.

The present program is funded by Placer Dome Inc. under the terms of a Letter Agreement between Placer Dome Africa Limited ("Placer Dome") and Channel, Channel being Operator. The program consists of:

* Induced Polarization survey, covering a portion of the Goulagou Deposit and vicinity, to define new drilling targets;

* extensive semi-detailed geochemical soil surveys (4,500 samples) to define drilling targets over five large regional Target Areas covering a total of 165 km2 of prospective zones; and * follow-up drilling.

Previous exploration programs, carried out by Channel outside the Goulagou Target from 1994 to 1997, have been recently compiled and reinterpreted by Channel's exploration team of Canadian geologists directed by John Learn, P.Geo, Chief Geologist and supervised by Dr. Jean Marc Lulin, geologist, President and Chief Operating Officer of Channel. In comparison to the Goulagou Target Area, these five Target Areas have been much less explored, but show strong gold potential. Limited drilling has been performed on these areas, resulting in excellent grades over significant intervals as highlighted below: 1) Rounga Target Area

* Prospective zone of 46 km2 with several strong regional soil gold anomalies (peak value of 5,280 ppb Au) including 4 artisanal mining sites.

* Most significant previous drill results include 5.73 g/t Au / 16m, 17.4 g/t Au / 4m, 17.3 g/t Au / 4m, 3.11 g/t Au / 12m, 3.14 g/t Au / 8m, 1.11 g/t Au / 24m. Best rock grab sample results include: 23.9 g/t Au, 16.9 g/t Au, 12.1 g/t Au, 11.2 g/t Au, 11.1 g/t Au, 9.72 g/t Au, 8.85 g/t Au.

2) Yabonsgo - Goro Target Area

* Prospective zone of 15 km2 with a 6.5 km long regional soil gold anomaly (peak value of 58 ppb Au) including 2 artisanal mining sites.

* Most significant previous drill results include: 4.56 g/t Au / 12m, 4.62 g/t Au / 10m, 3.19 g/t Au / 10m, 2.55 g/t Au / 36m, 1.06 g/t Au / 48m. Best rock grab sample results include: 3.37 g/t Au, 3.00 g/t Au, 2.66 g/t Au, 1.47 g/t Au.

3) Sinofousse Target Area

* Prospective zone of 18 km2 with a 8.5 km long regional soil gold anomaly (peak value of 32 ppb Au) including 2 artisanal mining sites.

* Most significant previous results are rock grab sample results: 13.8 g/t Au, 3.98 g/t Au, 1.25 g/t Au and a chip sample of 2.17 g/t Au / 10m.

4) Soubo Target Area

* Prospective zone of 38 km2 with several large regional soil gold anomalies (peak value of 92 ppb Au) including five artisanal mining sites.

* Most significant previous results are rock grab sample results (no drilling has been performed): 18.4 g/t Au, 3.90 g/t Au, 2.70 g/t Au (Zoro prospect), 23.2 g/t Au (Sissamba prospect), 7.05 g/t Au, 6.03 g/t Au, 2.67 g/t Au, 2.06 g/t Au (Touzage prospect), 47.9 g/t Au, 40.5 g/t Au, 18.1 g/t Au, 7.63 g/t Au, 5.05 g/t Au (Kouri prospect), 176 g/t Au, 9.54 g/t Au, 1.74 g/t Au (Kouba prospect).

5) Bourogoko Target Area

* Prospective zone of 48 km2 with one large and extensive (13 km length) regional soil gold anomaly (peak value of 61 ppb Au) including 2 artisanal mining sites.

* Most significant previous drill results, from very limited drilling performed to date, include: 4.5 g/t Au / 2m, 1.96 g/t Au / 4m, 1.45 g/t Au / 8m.

By comparison with the above areas, the Goulagou Target Area appears at the regional scale as a 40km2 prospective zone with a regional soil gold peak value of 40 ppb Au. Best surface rock sample obtained prior to the discovery was 3.14 g/t Au / 1.2m.

Channel has a 95% interest in the Somifa Permit. Placer Dome has the option to acquire up to 60% of Channel's interest by investing US $ 5 million in work costs over the next 3 years and an additional 5% interest by investing US $ 3 million in development work.

NOTE: Location map available at www.cdn-news.com or by calling the company at the numbers listed below.