March 7, 2003

News Release: Results of Drill Hole B02-01 Boka Gold Project - Yunnan Province, China

SOUTHWESTERN RESOURCES CORP. is pleased to announce that results for the first drill hole (B02-01) from the Boka 1 North area have been received. Boka 1 North is part of an extensive gold mineralization system extending from Boka 11 in the north to Boka 7 in the south. This mineralized system extends for 5.5 kilometres in a north-south direction and is defined by a very strong gold in soil anomaly and more than 200 tunnels have been excavated in the mineralized zone at various levels along the entire trend. The most extensive tunnelling is evidenced at Boka 1 North and South along a strike length of 1.8 kilometres. This 5.5 kilometre gold system may be much more extensive as a second gold in soil anomaly has been defined by the Company extending to the south and southwest for a further 20 kilometres. The present drilling program is testing the continuity along strike and downdip of the Boka 1 gold mineralization at a drill spacing of 200 metres. Drill hole B02-01 was drilled at an azimuth of 245 degrees and an inclination of 75 degrees. The hole returned a weighted average grade of 2.9 grams per tonne gold over 116.45 metres within the interval of 39 metres to 155.45 metres and included 25.6 metres of 4.2 grams per tonne gold from 39 metres to 64.6 metres, 8.34 metres of 3.7 grams per tonne gold from 70.96 metres to 79.30 metres and 27.05 metres of 3.1 grams per tonne gold from 128.4 metres to 155.45 metres. The entire mineralized intersection was in oxide material and is 80 metres downdip of the existing tunnels. The mineralization is dipping at approximately 30 degrees to the east and the intersection from drill hole B02-01 is believed to represent the true width of the zone at this location.

Drill holes B02-02 and B03-03 have been logged and sampled and core samples are presently being prepared at Langfang Laboratories, China. Once prepped the pulps will be flown to ALS Chemex in Vancouver for screen fire assay. Drill holes B03-02A, B03-04 and B03-05 are in progress. There are presently three drill rigs operating at Boka and the Company is planning to add a further two drill rigs due to slow drilling in broken ground related to the intense deformation and brecciation that characterizes the mineralization.

Gold mineralization at Boka is associated with quartz-carbonate stockworks and heavy sulfide breccia (HSB) zones hosted by carbonaceous sediments and, in places, gabbro. The HSB zones have been observed in tunnels XG-13 and XG-15 and previously released results have shown this mineralization to be high grade. The same HSB type material has been intersected in drill holes B03-02A and B03-04. The general trend of the Boka gold mineralization is north-south, shallow dipping to the east and confined to a highly sheared carbonaceous slate unit. Although the structure is complicated, the mineralization is in general stratabound as interpreted from the drilling to date. Results of further drill holes will be released when available. The Company is investigating various options to expedite the sample processing procedures, including having an independent qualified prep lab on site at Boka. The Company is also collecting two 500-kilogram samples of both oxide material and sulphide material to be shipped to Lakefield Research in Ontario, Canada for preliminary metallurgical studies. The oxide material is being collected from the Company's deep exploration tunnel KD24-13. This exploration tunnel is currently 270 metres long and has intersected oxide mineralization some 300 metres below surface.

Boka is a very large and robust mineralized system mineralized system that will require extensive drilling to define the limits of the mineralization.

Maps with drill hole locations are available at the Company's website www.swgold.com.

In February 2003 Stewart Winter, P.Geol, P.Eng, an independent qualified person, examined and sampled the mineralization at Boka 1. His report will be filed with SEDAR early next week.

The Boka project is a Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture between the Company and Team 209 of the Nuclear Industry of Yunnan Province, China. Southwestern can earn a 90% interest by spending US$ 4 million over 4 years and making a payment of US$ 1.7 million. Quality Control

Southwestern has implemented a quality control program to ensure best practice in lithogeochemical sampling and analysis of tunnel and drill core samples. All samples are shipped directly in security sealed bags to the Langfang Institute of Geochemical and Geophysical Exploration (Certification ISO 9001), a well regarded analytical laboratory in Langfang, Hebei Province, approximately 60 kilometres from Beijing. Drill core samples are prepped to -10 mesh at the Langfang laboratory and one kilogram split samples are air freighted to Vancouver, BC for screen fire assay by ALS Chemex Laboratories. Exploration samples are assayed by conventional methods at the Langfang lab and are digested in an aqua regia acid digestion and gold, silver, copper, nickel, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are analyzed by atomic absorption. The Company submits its own standards as a measure of the accuracy of the analysis. Field duplicates and pulp duplicates are routinely analyzed for precision at ALS Chemex located in Vancouver, BC. ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000 registered laboratory and is preparing for ISO 17025 certification. The exploration program is being carried out by Dr. Charlie Cheng, PhD (University of British Columbia) under the direct supervision of Mr. John Paterson (Member, AUSIMM-and therefore the competent person for the Project), President of Southwestern Resources Corp. Southwestern Resources Corp. is exploring in several countries for precious and base metals. The Company has a number of significant joint ventures. Southwestern also explores for diamonds through its 34.3% owned affiliate, Canabrava Diamond Corporation. Statements in this release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading 'Risk Factors'and elsewhere in the corporation's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgement as of the date hereof based on information currently available. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

CONTACT: TEL: (604) 669-2525 Southwestern Resources Corporation

FAX: (604) 688-5175 John Paterson, President

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