Results of the 2003 Exploration Program on the Abo Gold Project New Gold Zones Discovered

Cranbrook, B.C.: Northern Continental Resources (NCR:TSX-V) has recently provided the following update to Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX-V) management:

Three of the drill holes were completed from the same set-up on the Hill Stock (Figures 1 and 2), 70m along strike to the southwest of a zone that previously returned 27m (87.75 ft.) grading 3.3 g/t (0.10 oz/t) Au, including 8.8m (29 ft.) of 8.7 g/t (0.25 oz/t) Au in hole HL88-130. The first hole (ABO 03-1) appears to have passed above the flat lying mineralized zone, with narrow gold bearing intervals grading up to 14.1 g/t (0.41 oz/t) Au, 25.8 g/t Ag over 1.5m. The second hole (ABO 03-2) intersected the mineralized zone with results up to 4.9 g/t Au over 3.9m including 18 g/t (0.53 oz/t) Au, 31.6 g/t Ag over 1m (see NCR News Release 03-07). The third hole returned significant results as follows:

Jean Pautler, P.Geo., the “Qualified Person” as required under National Instrument 43-101 has reported to the Board of Directors of Northern Continental Resources Inc. (the Company) an update on the 2003 exploration program on the 160 unit (4,000 ha) Abo Gold Project, located 5 km north of Harrison Hot Springs, approximately 100 km east of Vancouver, British Columbia. The Company has acquired the option to earn a 60% interest in the central 76 units of the property from Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (see News Release February 18th, 2003). The remainder of the claims are 100% owned by Northern Continental. Hydroelectric power, natural gas and rail service are located within 3km of property boundaries.

The 2003 exploration program involved approximately 15 km of road and trail rehabilitation, implementation of secure underground access, 300m of trenching and 682m of diamond drilling in 4 holes. Gold mineralization on the property is dominantly hosted by quartz-pyrrhotite veins within quartz diorite stocks. Specifications of the drill holes are as follows:

A fourth vertical hole tests the North Hill Stock Zone (discovered earlier in 2003, 250m north-northwest of the collar of ABO 03-1 to -3) where a grab sample of quartz vein mineralization returned assay values of 63.8 g/t (1.86 oz/t) Au with 184 g/t (5.37 oz/t) Ag (see Figure 1). No significant mineralization has been intersected as yet, with 35m remaining to be drilled. Trenching of the zone (T 03-1) intersected a relatively flat lying quartz vein that returned 24.7 g/t (0.720 oz/t) Au with 62.3g/t (1.82 oz/t) Ag over the 20 cm incompletely exposed width. This margin of the Hill Stock has never been tested and gold grades are known to increase towards the northern margin of the Portal Stock. The Jenner and Portal Stocks have a combined indicated resource of 1.8 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t (0.08 oz/t) Au and an inferred resource of 614,000 tonnes of 2.79 g/t (0.08 oz/t) Au, as reported by B.J. Price Geological in 2002 to National Instrument 43-101 standards. (Refer to the NCR web site or www.sedar.com).

A second new gold zone was discovered in the north-central Hill Stock, 125m (410 ft.) northeast of the collar of ABO 03-01 (Figure 1). Quartz stringer mineralization, hosted by the diorite, returned assay values of 36.0 g/t (1.05 oz/t) Au and 51.8 g/t (1.51 oz/t) Ag. Follow up of the discovery by trenching uncovered a 15 cm shallowly dipping quartz vein, hosted by quartz diorite. The vein and adjacent wallrock returned assay results of 23.1 g/t (0.674 oz/t) Au and 13.2 g/t Ag over the 0.7m (2.3 ft) sampled (see News Release 03-07). The target remains untested along strike and at depth.

The northerly trending Breccia Zone along the western side of the Hill Stock (Figure 1) previously returned values of 1.5 g/t (0.04 oz/t) Au over 29m (95 ft.) including 7m (23 ft.) of 3.5 g/t (0.10 oz/t) Au in drill hole BX88-129 and 8.64 g/t (0.25 oz/t) Au and 29.5 g/t Ag in hole BX90-142. The zone has now been extended over 250m (820 ft.) to the south on surface with the discovery of oxidized sulphide-rich mineralization, containing pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite, which returned maximum values from grab samples of 0.66 g/t Au and 4.6 g/t Ag in trench T 03-5 (see NCR News Release 03-07). Based on the previous drill results, grades are expected to improve with depth.

An aggressive exploration program including concurrent diamond drilling, trenching, soil geochemistry and geophysical surveying is proposed for 2004. Drill targets include the above new gold zones on the Hill Stock and Breccia Zones and untested anomalies on the Lake Stock. In addition, numerous gold in soil anomalies from previous surveys over areas underlain by quartz diorite stocks remain to be tested and new targets that may represent additional quartz diorite stocks were identified in the airborne geophysical survey undertaken by Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. in 2001. The gold bearing Jenner and other stocks on the property were originally discovered by soil geochemistry.

Eagle Plains Resources continues to conduct research, acquisition and exploration projects in western Canada. Through a network of experienced prospectors, consultants and contractors in addition to seasoned employees and a well-rounded Board of Directors, the Company has assembled a diverse portfolio of gold and base-metal properties. Eagle Plains seeks to attract joint-venture participation on its properties, thereby leveraging exploration spending to the ultimate benefit of the Company’s shareholders. In recent years, Eagle Plains has completed option agreements with Billiton, Rio Algom, Kennecott, SpectrumGold Resources, Viceroy Resources and numerous other junior exploration companies, resulting in nearly 13,000m (43,000’) of drilling and over $5,000,000 in exploration spending on its properties since 1998.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Signed

“Tim J. Termuende”
President and CEO

For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)
Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com

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