Oropa?s Q2 Indonesian activities

An exploration diamond drill program is currently in progress at the Sihayo and Sambung prospects within the Pungkut gold project (?Pungkut?) located in central Sumatera, Indonesia.

The Sihayo prospect area exhibits highly anomalous gold values in outcrop over in excess of a 5km strike length. An inferred resource of 3.5Mt @ 2.7g/t Au (304,000 oz Au) has already been established from the results of an initial diamond drill program undertaken by former operator, Pacmin Mining Corporation Limited (?Pacmin?) during 1998 and 1999 which tested a small portion of the main Sihayo strike. Pungkut is a granted 7th generation Contract of Work (?CoW?) that currently covers some 66,200ha and is located almost due west of Singapore on the western side of central Sumatera, approximately 75 km south of PT Newmont Mining?s large Martabe gold deposit .

Oropa, through its wholly owned subsidiary Excelsior Resources Limited, executed an Option to Purchase Agreement in January this year with the vendors of Pungkut, Pacmin and Western Metals Copper Limited, to acquire a 75% beneficial interest in the project by spending $900,000.00 on the project on or before 30 September 2004. To date Oropa has spent in excess of $500,000.00 on the initial project evaluation, option fee and its current exploration program, the vast majority of which is attributable towards the earning amount.

The vendors hold their interest in Pungkut through their 100% shareholding in Aberfoyle Pungkut Investments Pte Ltd, a Singapore registered company that holds 75% of the issued capital in PT Sorikmas Mining, with the remaining 25% carried interest being held by PT Aneka Tambang, whose majority shareholder is the Indonesian government.

An inferred resource of 304,000 ounces of sediment-hosted gold has already been established at the Sihayo 1 North prospect, located in the northern part of the Pungkut CoW area, as calculated from the results of 18 diamond drill holes for 2,077 metres previously drilled by Pacmin. Some 4km of the plus 5km main strike of the Sihayo prospect area remains un-drilled. The gold mineralisation observed is typical of epithermal deposits discovered elsewhere in Indonesia and throughout the Pacific in ?Volcanic Arc? areas. In addition to the Sihayo prospect, the CoW hosts a large number of other mineralised areas with varying styles and mineral types. It is anticipated that additional drilling targets will be generated by further exploration of the gold, porphyry-copper, and lead-zinc mineralized areas already identified by Pacmin.

Drilling is being undertaken using a man-portable diamond drilling rig that was mobilized from Jakarta and air-lifted by helicopter to the first drill site from the nearby town of Panyabungan. As a protocol exercise, local government officials were given a site visit to Sihayo with the use of the helicopter and taken through the proposed drilling program.

Since drilling commenced, a total of five holes for 670.4 metres have been completed at the south-east portion of Sihayo 1 North to test the continuity of the mineralization outlined by Pacmin and potential extensions to the east and south. Step out holes were sited some 100 metres apart, the most eastern (SHDD023) being approximately 450 metres distant from the Sihayo 1 North outcrop. A further eight drill holes are planned at Sambung, which is located some 2 ? km south of Sihayo 1 North, at the southern end of the Sihayo/Sambung gold anomalous trend. Drilling has recently commenced at Sambung, nearby to where Pacmin returned 36m @ 3.56 g/t Au from continuous channel sampling of outcrop. The first hole at Sambung has now been completed at 133.15 metres and sampling is in progress.

The Sambung prospect has outcrop channel sampling over a 400m strike, returning excellent gold analysis results including the above referenced interval of 36m @ 3.56 g/t Au. Rock chip sampling of available outcrop outside the 400m interval that was channel sampled extends the mineralised zone to plus 1.3km.

Other excellent rock chip values (maximum 35.8 g/t Au) from approximately 120 samples collected to date are recorded at Sihayo 3, 4 and 5 prospects in a parallel interpreted structure, some 2 - 3km west of the main Sihayo/Sambung strike. These prospects to the west, along with others in the southern portion of the CoW will be systematically evaluated in the future after the Company?s current and ongoing drill programs firmly establish geological continuity of the gold mineralization at Sihayo 1 North and Sambung prospects, so a resource can be estimated.

Drilling to date has progressed with only minor operational difficulties. Drill core recovery through these type of mineralized zones is sometimes only moderate due to the brecciated and veined nature of the host rock. Drill hole SHDD022, some 250 metres south-east of SDDH020 encountered swelling claystones and siltstones from surface and was abandoned, similar to Pacmin?s hole 3, which also encountered similar formations, and which was also abandoned. An encouraging aspect of SDDH022 was that mineralization was encountered near the bottom of the hole, before the hole was aborted. Additional drill holes may be added to the current program at Sambung, depending on the results from the initial holes planned. Results obtained to date and the geological information recorded so far are adding significantly to Oropa?s understanding of the controlling factors on the mineralization at Sihayo 1 North. Assay results from the fifth hole drilled at Sihayo 1 North will be somewhat delayed, owing to the field crews concentrating on moving the rig to the Sambung location.

Assay results for significant intercepts returned so far for the first four holes are tabulated below:

Lanut Gold Project, Sulawesi

The Lanut gold project (?Lanut?) is located in North Sulawesi and hosts a mineralised gold epithermal system. Previous exploration at Lanut by PT Placer Pacific Indonesia outlined a gold resource of 5.48 Mt @ 2.8 g/t Au (+ 490,000 oz Au).

During the quarter, in order for Oropa to concentrate its activities at Pungkut, the Company withdrew from the Lanut gold project and reached agreement by way of a Memorandum of Understanding (?MOU?) with PT Arafura Mandiri Semangat (?PT Arafura?), the Indonesian company holding the mineral rights to the KP area) to negotiate with Avocet Mining PLC (?Avocet?), a UK based public listed company that operates the surrounding CoW for Avocet to conduct due diligence of the Lanut gold project. Since becoming the operator of the CoW, Avocet has announced that significant additional mineralisation at higher grades exist at Lanut North and the company has recently completed a feasibility study on the Lanut North mineral potential. Avocet is currently seeking permits to establish a 50,000 oz Au per year mining and production facility at Lanut North.

Under the terms of the MOU with PT Arafura, should Avocet opt to take over the Lanut gold project from PT Arafura and proceeds to commercial mining of the Lanut ore, Oropa is entitled to 10% of the profits flowing to the non-Avocet shareholders of PT Arafura from these mining operations capped at A$750,000, after repayment of all project debts attributable to PT Arafura. The MOU was made effective on 1 June 2003 and terminates Oropa?s active involvement in this project. (*)