HOUSTON LAKE MINING INC.

(HLM-CDNX)

PRESS RELEASE

Encouraging New Interpretation of Tib Lake Palladium Project Results

April 5, 2001:  Sudbury, Ontario - Houston Lake Mining Inc. (CDNX:HLM, "Houston Lake") is pleased to announce that the Company has received a positive report on the Company’s 100 percent owned 1632 hectare (4030 acre) Tib Lake Palladium Property located in the Thunder Bay region of northwestern Ontario. After thorough review of all previous data, independent consulting geologist Dr. Walter Peredery has synthesized a better understanding and provided a framework that is expected to improve the effectiveness of future exploration on the Tib Lake project. Joint venture interest in the property continues to be strong though no agreement has as yet been reached.

The Tib Lake property is located in the Lac Des Iles area just 15 km. (9 miles) from the Lac Des Iles palladium mine of North American Palladium Ltd. Reserves at the Lac Des Iles mine continue to be increased from last Fall’s report of 121.65 million tonnes grading 1.63 g/t palladium, 0.18 g/t platinum and 0.13 g/t gold plus 0.06% copper and 0.06% nickel. The development of the large tonnage deposit at Lac Des Iles and palladium-platinum-gold mineralization documented elsewhere in the Lac Des Iles area have spurred intensive exploration interest in similar rocks of the region. The Tib Lake gabbro is the second largest intrusion of the Lac Des Iles Suite of rocks and, as such, is a prime target for palladium-platinum-gold ("PGE") exploration. Globally, PGE deposits are restricted to large intrusions with high background values of PGE’s.

Houston Lake identified palladium as a key commodity in 1997 and solidified its land position at Tib Lake by Spring of 1998 well in advance of most other PGE explorers. To date the Company has expended over $450,000 in programs of line-cutting, geophysics, geological mapping, trenching and stripping, and diamond drilling on the Tib Lake property. Last Fall’s 1,037.6 metre (3,403.3 foot) diamond drilling program intersected a highlight of 22 metres (72.2 feet) of core length grading 1.456 g/t PGE’s (palladium + platinum + gold), 0.17% nickel and 0.15% copper under the Kuhner Occurrence. This intercept extended the economically significant palladium mineralization at the Kuhner Zone from 35 metres (100 feet) to a depth of 65 metres (213 feet). The Kuhner Zone appears to be widening with depth from relatively narrow surface showings. The Kuhner mineralization may have been extended along strike for several hundred metres to a new palladium occurrence on the west bank of the East Dog River.

Geological mapping has identified a large alteration system (an area of chemically changed rock favourable for economically significant mineralization) which encompasses all known palladium occurrences of the Tib Gabbro. The alteration system reaches over 2.5 km (1.5 miles) in strike length (open in both directions) and reaches 1 km (0.6 miles) in width on the property. However, such a large area and the extensive nature of the accompanying sulphide ± PGE mineralization in the alteration system had posed difficulties in providing focus for PGE exploration on the property.

Houston Lake commissioned Dr. Walter Peredery to review all previous data at Tib Lake. Dr. Peredery is eminently qualified to carry out such work through his extensive experience in nickel-copper-PGE mineralization with Inco Ltd. in the Sudbury area (Ontario) and Thompson Belt (Manitoba) and is well acquainted with Russian and South African PGE deposits and the Lac Des Iles area. It is now clear that the economically significant PGE mineralizaion is associated with the more mafic to ultramafic rock layers which are generally confined to the Lower Zone of the Tib Lake gabbro. Furthermore, distinctions can now be made between areas with potentially economic PGE mineralization and those areas with very little potential. It now appears that several areas that only yielded drill intersections of anomalous PGE mineralization are now of high exploration priority. Future exploration programs are being planned with this new understanding of the controls of PGE mineralization on the Tib lake property.

Dr. Peredery concludes: "Since the surface exposure of the TLG (Tib Lake Gabbro) is a relatively high section, it is surmised that deeper drilling will be closer to the source of the fluids, and by analogy to the Lac Des Iles complex, closer to the primitive rocks and higher PGE values. Utilization of concepts proposed here should improve the overall effectiveness of future exploration programs in the Tib Lake property. Further exploration work is highly recommended, as our indicators clearly demonstrate that there is an excellent potential of finding PGE mineralization. Persistent exploration work should lead to the discovery of a major PGE orebody in the Tib Lake property."

Houston Lake is actively exploring for rare metals, platinum group metals and gold in northwestern Ontario. The common shares of Houston Lake Mining Inc. trade through the facilities of the Canadian Venture Exchange under the symbol HLM. Houston Lake Mining Inc. has a total of 13,410,557 common shares issued and outstanding. For further information on all of the Company's projects, we invite you to visit us at www.houstonlakemining.com.

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