HOUSTON LAKE MINING INC.

(HLM-TSX.V)

PRESS RELEASE

Positive Recommendation Spurs $200,000 Proposed Financing
for Houston Lake’s West Cedartree Gold Project

September 16, 2003: Sudbury, Ontario - Houston Lake Mining Inc. (TSX.V:HLM, "Houston Lake") is pleased to report that the Company has received a strong recommendation from Consulting Geologist Dean Cutting, P. Geo. for a 1000m. (3280 ft.) drill program on the West Cedartree Gold Project which is located near Sioux Narrows, Ontario. Houston Lake therefore proposes to raise $200,000 via a non-brokered, flow-through private placement financing which is subject to regulatory approval. The drill program is anticipated to commence in mid-October, 2003.

The company proposes to offer up to a maximum of 500,000 units at a price of $0.40 per unit for maximum gross proceeds of $200,000. Each unit will consist of one flow through common share and one purchase warrant. Each full warrant can be exercised into one non-flow-through common share at a price of $0.50 for the first year and $0.60 for the second year. The proposed offering is restricted to residents of Ontario, would have a hold period of one year and is subject to regulatory approval. The financing utilizes Super Flow-through shares, which include tax-based incentives of 100 percent of the investment with an additional 20 percent tax credit. The financing is expected to close within 30 days. Proceeds will be used for working capital purposes to execute the recommended 1000m. (3280 ft.) drill program on the West Cedartree Gold Project.

Houston Lake now owns, or has under 100 percent option a total of 603.6 hectares (1490.9 acres) spanning four properties in the West Cedartree Lake area. The properties are accessed by an all-weather gravel road, which traverses the northern portions of the project area. Past exploration has focused on the McLennan Shear Zone ("MSZ") at the northerly-striking contact of mafic volcanics with a large gabbro body. A second gold-bearing shear zone, the Angel Hill Gold Zone ("AHGZ"), was identified in 1997.

Houston Lake has recently completed an extensive stripping, systematic channel sampling and detailed mapping program over a 130m. (426 ft.) segment of the AHGZ. The objective of this program was specifically to start the basis for a resource calculation by the more systematic determination of where and how the gold occurs in the system of the Angel Hill Gold Zone. The AHGZ has been extended in outcrop along strike for a total strike length of 225m. (738 ft.), and the zone remains open along strike to the south. A magnetic high is traceable southward from the vicinity of the exposed AHGZ to a number of gold-in-soil anomalies and passes near a gold showing in the southern portions of the property for a total possible strike length of 2.1 km. (6888 ft.). The AHGZ has a minimum exposed width of 3m. (9.8 ft.) to a maximum exposed width of 18m. (59.0 ft.) and remains open in width to the west. The exposed gold zone appears to be a part of a larger shear system and is internally complex. The AHGZ was directly tested by 77 of the systematic channel samples. The samples ranged from trace to 71.30 g/t Au (2.080 oz/t) and had a weighted average of 4.04 g/t Au (0.118 oz/t). Consulting geologist, Dean Cutting, P. Geo. is the Qualified Person responsible for the project. Excerpts from Mr. Cutting’s conclusions and recommendations follow:

"Within the Angel Hill Gold Zone the gold values occur along the entire sampled exposure. The controls for the gold mineralization at this point are not completely understood. This being said, it is noted that most of the best values occur within the highly fractured structurally complex central core sections of the shear zone usually in association with quartz veins, silicification, and fuchsite alteration.

Excellent control on the lateral gold content variations in the Angel Hill Gold Zone is known in the area exposed by the stripping and geological evaluation of the present program, however, no detailed information is available regarding the vertical continuity and behavior of the zone beyond what can be inferred from the surface exposure. The inference is the likelihood that a major system as the Angel Hill Gold Zone has a vertical extent at least as deep as its lateral extent i.e. on the order of at least 200 metres.

Based upon the extremely encouraging, potentially economic results obtained from the exploration program described in detail in this report it is strongly recommended in the author’s opinion that follow up exploration work be undertaken on the Angel Hill Gold Zone as well as the McLennan Gold Zone.

The proposed Phase I Exploration Program would concentrate upon the immediate extensions of the Angel Hill Gold Zone both laterally along strike to the south and vertically to a depth of approximately 40 metres beneath the area that was exposed by stripping in this present program. The results of this drilling should allow a calculation of a resource figure for at least a part of the zone."

Houston Lake is actively exploring for Gold, Platinum Group Metals and Rare Metals with a strategic focus on northwestern Ontario. The Company has a total of 15,969,695 common shares issued and outstanding. The common shares of Houston Lake Mining Inc. trade through the facilities of the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol HLM. For further information, we invite you to visit us at www.houstonlakemining.com.

For more information, please contact:

Web Site: www.houstonlakemining.com

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.