March 2, 2004

News Release: Southern Rio Resources Ltd.: Tommy Vein Drilling Returns Best Intersection to Date

Southern Rio Resources Ltd. (the 'Company') is pleased to announce initial assay results from its ongoing exploration drill program on the 3Ts Project in central BC.

The latter stages of the program focused on several targets on the Tsacha Property, where two rigs have been drilling since early February. The highlight of this work to date is an intersection of 11.31 metres (estimated true width 9.0 metres) grading 9.87 grams/tonne gold equivalent in hole TS-04-90 on the Tommy Vein (refer to the Longitudinal Section on the Company's website www.southernrio.com):

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Width (metres)      Gold g/t      Silver g/t          Gold Equiv. @ 60:1
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11.31                   8.83            62.6                        9.87
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This intersection is the deepest and one of the widest on the Tommy Vein, at a vertical depth of approximately 280 metres and 100 metres along strike from any previous drilling. It is also the southernmost hole drilled beneath a flat-lying microdiorite sill unit. This intersection greatly expands the resource potential of the Tommy Vein, and strongly supports further drilling of the Tommy Vein and other similar veins on both the Tsacha and Tam Properties.

Internal assay checks have been completed on the core samples, and the sample pulps have been sent to a second independent laboratory for confirmatory re-assaying.

The Company has also completed an initial seven diamond drillholes totaling 713.5 metres in the vicinity of the high grade Ringer boulder occurrence located on the eastern portion of the Tam Property. This drilling intersected a new epithermal vein system with highly anomalous gold and silver values including 1.94 metres grading 2.07 grams/tonne gold and 17.2 grams/tonne silver in hole TK-04-03, and 1.0 metres grading 0.40 grams/tonne gold and 54.1 grams/tonne silver in hole TK-04-07. This new discovery, which is covered by 25 metres of glacial overburden, appears to represent a different style of mineralization to the Ringer boulders in that the bedrock mineralization is associated with base metal sulphides, and in the view of the geological team, likely does not represent the source of the Ringer boulders. Additional drilling in the area will seek to further delineate the new vein system, as well as continuing exploration for the source of the high-grade Ringer boulder material.

The recent drilling at the 3Ts Project has greatly expanded the tonnage potential of the Tommy Vein, further tested the Johnny and Larry Vein systems, and identified a new vein system near the Ringer boulder occurrence. Drilling will continue into March and additional results will be issued as they become available.

Other significant activities on the 3T's Project includes a recent site visit and due diligence information review by Stewart Wallis, P.Geo. the independent Qualified Person who will be carrying out a resource calculation on the Ted Vein using information generated from the pre-Christmas resource drilling program. The resources defined on the Ted Vein will augment the current inferred resource of 552,500 tonnes of 6.82 g/t gold and 60.9 g/t silver (at a 3 g/t gold cutoff) on the Tommy Vein above the microdiorite sill.

The 3Ts field program is being supervised by David Pawliuk, P.Geo. and Robert Weicker, P.Geo., both of whom are Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101. The primary assay laboratory being used is Eco Tech Laboratory Ltd. in Kamloops, with check assays being performed by Acme Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver.

SOUTHERN RIO RESOURCES LTD

Lindsay Bottomer, President

Southern Rio Resources Ltd. Lindsay Bottomer President (604) 687-3959 (604) 408-0489 (FAX) Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.southernrio.com

NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews The TSX-V has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

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