Pacific Rim Mining Corp. Announces Barrick Gold has Made Property Payment of $US3.75 Million for Diablillos

Business Wire, July 3, 1997

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 3, 1997-- Pacific Rim Mining Corp. (VSE:PFG) (the "Company" or "Pacific Rim") is pleased to announce that Barrick Gold Corporation has informed the Company that the final $US3.75 million option payment to the underlying landholder Abra de Mina, has been completed.

This payment fully vests the Diablillos property to the jointly owned Argentine subsidiary of Barrick (70 percent) and Pacific Rim (30 percent).

An extensive, 11,000 meter step-out drill program is under way on the Diablillos property, under Barrick's supervision. Three rigs (two reverse circulation and one diamond drill) have begun drilling at Diablillos, on and around the Oculto zone. The first drill is testing the northeast extension of the system on a 100 meter grid pattern.

The second drill is concentrating on eight target areas within the Oculto-Cerro Bayo alteration system that have the same geophysical characteristics as the mineralization in the Oculto deposit. A parallel northeast fault, located 500 meters south of the Oculto will also be tested later in the program once new geophysical results (CSAMT) from the target are interpreted. The diamond drill will continue to test the deposit for grade and geologic continuity. Using the drilling completed to date as an interpretive model of the geophysics it can be shown that the high resistivity anomalies, caused by intense silification, correlate strongly with the zones of gold mineralization. The ground magnetic survey, together with resistivity soundings and CSAMT surveys have shown that the controlling fault in the Oculto zone continues to the northeast for at least 600 meters.

The CSAMT survey indicates that the Oculto alteration continues 500m to the east and northeast and expands in dimension. The geophysical anomalies probably reflect fault zones containing vuggy silica, the alteration type that hosts the mineralization at Oculto and other gold deposits of this type.

Pacific Rim Mining Corp. is a Vancouver based mineral exploration company in operation since 1986. Its portfolio consists of precious and base metal properties in northwestern Argentina. The Diablillos project is now held by Pacific Rim Mining Corporation Argentina S.A., a company in which Pacific Rim owns an indirect 30 percent interest and Barrick owns a 70 percent indirect interest. Through such company, Barrick is expending $US10.5 million in order to reach a production decision to retain its 70 percent interest. -0-

The VSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT: Pacific Rim Mining Corp.

Samantha Cramer, 604/689-1976

John Chalcraft, 604/689-1976