Argentina Gold Corp. Appoints ScotiaMcLeod Inc. as Financial Advisor and Adopts Shareholders Rights Plan to Maximize Shareholder Value

Business Wire, Jan 14, 1999

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 1999-- Argentina Gold Corp. (VSE:ARP.) (the "Company") today announced the appointment of ScotiaMcLeod Inc. as its financial advisor to assist the Company in considering all alternatives available to Barrick's unacceptable offer with a view to maximizing shareholder value on behalf of all Argentina Gold shareholders. The Company also announced today the adoption, subject to receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals, of a limited purpose shareholder rights plan which is scheduled to expire on February 19, 1999. The shareholder rights plan is intended to provide the Company with a reasonable period of time to consider all alternatives to Barrick's hostile bid which was launched prior to the Christmas and New Years holiday season.

Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd. had been previously retained to provide an opinion relating to the fairness of the Barrick bid and concluded it significantly undervalues Argentina Gold shares and is inadequate from a financial point of view. Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd. will continue to assist the Company.

Lukas Lundin, Director, said, "We believe that the Veladero project is worth substantially more than the current Barrick bid. Our consultants, Watts, Griffis and McOuat, have confirmed with us that the Veladero project is viable as a stand-alone operation and can be operated independently of Barrick's Pascua project. In addition, given the proximity of our project to Pascua, we believe that Barrick would realize significant cost savings in developing the deposit and should be required to share the value of some of those synergies with our shareholders should they wish to acquire the Company."

The Company recently announced encouraging new drill results which have opened up a new target 600 metres north of the 2.3 million ounce gold resource found at the Amable target and enlarged the high grade section of the 2.0 million ounce gold resource at Filo Federico. These new results will be incorporated into the inferred resource estimate which currently stands at 4.5 million ounces of gold and 119 million ounces of silver.

The results open up the entire eastern flank of the Filo Federico and Cerro Pelado diatreme systems indicating the possibility of continued gold mineralization over a north-south distance of 2 kilometres. The results also confirmed the possibility of continuity between the 2 million ounce Filo Federico resource and the 400,000 ounce NW target resource 500 metres away. With Filo Federico in the north, the Amable North target in the mid-east and the Amable target in the south, the potential of the Veladero project has increased significantly.

Mr. Lundin stated, "With the addition of ScotiaMcLeod to lead our advisory team, we are confident that we will be successful in completing a transaction which is in the best interests of our shareholders."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD J. Patricio Jones, President

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