Mr. Jeremy Kendall reports

DAVID KRUSE TO LEAVE OPTA MINERALS

David Kruse will be stepping down as Opta Minerals Inc.'s president, chief executive officer and as a director, effective immediately. Bernie Rumbold will assume Mr. Kruse's responsibilities on an interim basis pending completion of a search to identify a successor to Mr. Kruse. Bernie Rumbold, a chemist and engineer, is currently a director of Opta Minerals and was previously president of Bimac Inc. and chairman of Magnesium Technologies Corp., companies that were acquired by Opta Minerals and of which Mr. Rumbold was a significant shareholder.

Jeremy Kendall, chairman of Opta Minerals, commented: "David joined Opta Minerals in November, 1997, as financial manager and was appointed to progressively more senior roles until he became president and chief executive officer in December, 2002. Since then, he has been largely responsible for building Opta Minerals into a multinational company focused in the infrastructure, abrasive and steel ingredient businesses. We thank him for his many contributions and wish him the greatest success in his next adventure."