Drilling Report

Brancote Holdings PLC
1 May 2002





Date:              May 1st, 2002


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

                 William Staple
                 Brown Shipley Limited                          020 7282 3380

                 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.



                                 Huemules (60%)
               Report on the 2001/2 Exploratory Drilling Programme



Phase V Drilling Programme.
Final results have been received for the Feasibility infill drilling.
Results received include;

                                    Table II

                 Galadriel Sur and Julia Diamond Core Drilling

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

      GD 365         4598.3         1835.7          209.1          163.0               15.8          8.7
      GD 367         4787.8         2374.2          201.5          151.9               14.4         22.6
       JD 66         4342.8         1425.4          120.7           57.6               28.3         11.8



The intersection of GD 367 includes 7.5 metres at 35.3 g/t gold and has now
extended the high-grade core (plus one-ounce/tonne) contained within the
Galadriel Sur vein to 160 metres down-dip.



The resource update for both the Galadriel-Julia and the La Joya Del Sol vein
systems is due for completion towards the end of May.



Huemules.

An exploratory drilling programme, consisting of 22 diamond HQ drill-holes for a
total of 2820 metres, was completed on the northern extension of the historical
Huemules mine to provide a better understanding of the style of mineralisation
and previous exploration results.

Drilling has established the presence of a high-grade gold shoot (including
bonanza gold grades of up to 460 grams/tonne gold over 0.5 metres HD18) that
appears to be widening with depth.



Results received include

                                    Table 1

                     Huemules Norte Diamond Core Drilling.

   Hole        From        Intersection        Gold        Silver      Copper       Lead        Zinc
 Ndegrees     metres          metres            g/t          g/t          %           %           %

     HD 02          71.0               2.0         60.32        17.3       0.81%       0.16%       0.48%
     HD 09          48.0               3.0         23.18        13.1       0.46%       0.26%       0.65%
     HD 14         150.0               7.5         35.79        53.5       1.39%       0.81%       2.83%
     HD.15          64.5               1.6         39.13        21.2       1.07%       1.18%       1.63%
     HD 18         139.0               4.0         61.50        69.4       1.77%       1.12%       0.89%



The Huemules gold property is located some 25 kilometres to the NW of Esquel and
lies within the 6km wide, 300-degree striking, Willimanco structural corridor.

The area contains several prospects, two of which, Huemules Sur and Huemules
Norte, were developed into operating mines in the late 1980s by EACA, an
Argentine company.

Minera El Desquite optioned the property in 1998.



Esquel Gold Deposit.
At the conference for the Society of Economic Geologists Inc. held in Denver in
mid-April. Dr. Richard H. Sillitoe, a renowned Consulting Geologist, presented a
paper on the;

                      Discovery and Geology of the Esquel
                    Low-Sulfidation Epithermal Gold Deposit,
                             Patagonia, Argentina.



Dr Sillitoe's Introduction commenced:

'The Esquel Gold deposit, one of the world's premier epithermal vein systems,
was discovered and defined in southern Argentina during the last four years by
Minera El Desquite S. A.'



                                    - ENDS -



Geological information in this report has been compiled by 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.



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