Drilling Report

Brancote Holdings PLC
10 December 2001



Date:     10th December 2001


Contacts: Richard Prickett, Chairman
          Bill Humphries, Managing Director
          Brancote Holdings PLC                              020 7493 1002

          David Bick
          Holborn Public Relations                           020 7929 5599
                                                [e-mail]





                            BRANCOTE HOLDINGS PLC

                         Esquel Gold Project (76.4%)
            Progress Report on the Phase V Drilling Programme


*        Feasibility infill drilling has confirmed the presence of a
high-grade zone, averaging in excess of 50 grams / tonne gold (g/t au) over 4
metres wide, containing bonanza grades of up to 5 ounces / tonne au, within
the northern section of the Galadriel Sur vein.



*        Close spaced resource drilling on the Sirena vein at La Joya del Sol,
6 kilometres north of Galadriel, has significantly increased the area of this
flat lying vein to over 15000 m2, with early results from the northern end of
the vein showing grades of plus 10 g/t au over 13 metres of true width.



Feasibility Infill Drilling

Drilling commenced in early November on the Galadriel-Julia vein system to
infill the remaining gaps and to progress the inferred resource into measured
and/or indicated categories for it's inclusion into the mining reserve.

Results received to date include;



                                   Table 1

                     Galadriel Sur Diamond Core Drilling

  Hole    Easting Northing  Depth      From       Intersection        Grade
Ndegrees    156     525    metres     metres         metres         g/t gold

GD 306     4972.8   2638.4    48.6         11.4              10.2          21.1
                                      Including               3.7          48.9

GD 308     4979.4   2601.1    27.4          9.4               8.1          43.1

GD 309     4963.8   2603.1    45.7         22.3              12.4          25.5
                                      Including               2.9          73.0

GD 310     4971.2   2585.3    38.0         19.5               8.5          15.6

GD 316     4916.6   2553.2    96.0         29.3              11.0          26.2
                                      Including               5.3          48.7


Close spaced drilling, 20 metres along strike by 12.5 metres down dip, has
been completed on the northern 120 metres of Galadriel Sur and has confirmed
the presence of a steeply dipping vein containing high grade gold. (Table 1)



Drilling, using two diamond drill-rigs, is currently being carried out on the
southern section of Galadriel and the central section of Galadriel Sur .

To date, 3,180 metres of the programmed 10,080 metres of Feasibility infill
drilling has been completed.



La Joya Del Sol Resource Drilling



The La Joya Del Sol vein-field is located 6 kilometres north of the vein
Galadriel.

Prior to MED obtaining La Joya, the previous owner, Sunshine Mining, carried
out a diamond core drilling programme on four of the larger veins; Sirena;
Natasha; Anastasia and Ivana, identifying preliminary resources of 209,000
ounces of gold and 1,410,000 ounces of silver at weighted grades respectively
of 5.8 and 39.5 g/t.

MED is currently completing a 5,000 metres reverse circulation (RC) drilling
programme on the above veins to progress this inferred resource into measured
and/or indicated categories, for future inclusion into the Esquel Project mine
pan.

Step out drilling on the northern half of the flat lying Sirena vein has
substantially extended the known area returning high-grade intersections

Results received to date include;

                                   Table II

                     Sirena Reverse Circulation Drilling

  Hole    Easting Northing  Depth    From       Intersection         Grade
Ndegrees    156     525    metres   metres         metres           g/t gold

SR 1       5923.5   9589.7    25.0       0.0                 7.0           19.9
SR 2       5926.8   9573.5    30.0       0.0                 8.0           10.0
SR 3       5911.3   9569.4    45.0       0.0                14.0           11.6
SR 4       5900.2   9545.4    35.0       0.0                13.0           11.4
SR.8       5887.4   9549.1    30.0       0.0                13.0           11.7
SR 9       5883.3   9501.3    45.0      31.0                 5.0           27.1



Results received from the Natasha drilling are also encouraging and include:



                                  Table III

                     Natasha Reverse Circulation Drilling

  Hole    Easting Northing  Depth    From       Intersection         Grade
Ndegrees    156     525    metres   metres         metres           g/t gold

NR 6       6361.1   0173.0    75.0      20.0                17.0           12.3
NR 7       6313.1   0103.8    39.0       3.0                12.0            9.6
NR 10      6338.6   0153.1    61.0       3.0                23.0            9.3



Sixteen vein systems have so far been identified at La Joya Del Sol, all
either on or near surface, ensuring low mining costs.



Exploration


There are currently four geologists with support teams operating at:

*        Leleque on second pass exploration, including mapping and sampling
within previously identified anomalous areas;

*        Nahuel Pan and the recently acquired Cholila areas on first pass
exploration, including stream sediments sampling and mapping.

*        West and north of La Joya Del Sol revisiting known veins in that
area.



Encouraging results have been received, particularly from Leleque and Cholila,
where stream sediment sampling continues to return high values.



Preparations are under way for a 3,000 metres diamond drilling programme, to
commence in February, at Huemules to gain a better understanding of the
existing vein system and to test for any possible extension.

In addition a 1,500 metre RC drilling programme will be completed on the
Ungoliant and Elena Centro vein systems in January.



Land



MED has exercised the option to purchase the 2,000 hectares of land containing
the Esquel Gold Project and now holds full title together with the mineral
rights.



Full Feasibility



Additional metallurgical testing is being carried out at Hazen Research in
Golden, Colorado, in preparation for bulk testing scheduled to start in May of
next year.

Preliminaries for the selection of the Process Engineering company to carry
out the Full Feasibility study are in progress.



                                   - ENDS -




Geological information in this report has been compiled by Brancote's Project
Manager, Marc J. Sale, who:

-   Is a consultant to Brancote Holdings plc;

-   Has relevant experience in relation to the mineralisation being
    reported on to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the Australian   
    Code for Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves;

-   Is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
    and has more than five years experience in this field of activity reported
    herein;

-   Has consented to the inclusion of this data.