Augusta Resource Corporation - MRRS Decision

Headnote

Mutual Reliance Review System - Relief fromthe requirement to have a qualified person inspect propertiesthat are the subject of technical reports where qualified personunable to access property due to weather conditions - reliefsubject to conditions.

Applicable Ontario Statutory Provisions

Securities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5, as am.

Applicable Instrument

National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosurefor Mineral Projects, ss. 6.2 and 9.1.

IN THE MATTER OF
THE SECURITIES LEGISLATION OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA, ALBERTA AND ONTARIO

AND

IN THE MATTER OF
THE MUTUAL RELIANCE REVIEW SYSTEM
FOR EXEMPTIVE RELIEF APPLICATIONS

AND

IN THE MATTER OF
AUGUSTA RESOURCE CORPORATION

MRRS DECISION DOCUMENT

WHEREAS the local securities regulatoryauthority or regulator (the "Decision Maker") in eachof British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario (the "Jurisdictions")has received an application from Augusta Resource Corporation(the "Filer") for a decision under the securitieslegislation of the Jurisdictions (the "Legislation")that the requirement contained in the Legislation that at leastone qualified person preparing or supervising the preparationof a technical report inspect the properties that are the subjectof the technical reports (the "Personal Inspection Requirement")will not apply to the Filer in respect of the technical reportsto be prepared in connection with the Filer's public offeringof securities;

AND WHEREAS under the Mutual RelianceReview System for Exemptive Relief Applications (the "System")the British Columbia Securities Commission is the principalregulator for this application;

AND WHEREAS the Filer has representedto the Decision Makers that:

1. the Filer is a corporation governed by theCanada Business Corporations Act with its head office in BritishColumbia;

2. the Filer is a reporting issuer under theLegislation of each Jurisdiction and is not in default of anyrequirements of the Legislation;

3. the authorized capital of the Filer consistsof 100,000,000 common shares without par value, of which 14,402,157common shares were issued and outstanding as at April 5, 2002;

4. the Filer's common shares are listed on theTSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX Venture");

5. the Filer has entered into option agreementsdated between January 15, 2002 and March 13, 2002 and anticipatesentering into a further option agreement prior to June 15, 2002(the "Agreements") to acquire interests in a numberof mining properties (the "Properties") located inthe Coronation Gulf Diamond Area in Western Nunavut and central-westNorthwest Territories, Canada;

6. the Properties may be material propertiesof the Filer;

7. the Properties have not had any explorationwork performed on them and no resource has been defined to date;

8. the Filer has had or is having a number oftechnical reports (the "Reports") prepared relatingto the Properties and has retained Robert F. Brown, a qualifiedperson as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards ofDisclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), toprepare the Reports in accordance with NI 43-101;

9. the Filer intends to raise up to an aggregate$2,000,000 through a private placement of its securities andan offering of its securities to the public in British Columbiathrough the facilities of the TSX Venture (the "Offering")under a short form offering document (the "Offering Document");

10. the Offering Document will describe themineral projects on the Properties based on the informationcontained in the Reports;

11. due to snow cover and frozen winter conditionson the Properties since the Filer entered into the Agreements,a site inspection is not possible before the Offering Documentis filed; and

12. the Filer intends to use a portion of theproceeds from the Offering to perform work on the Propertiesas required to exercise the options under the Agreements;

AND WHEREAS under the System, this MRRSDecision Document evidences the decision of each Decision Maker(collectively, the "Decision");

AND WHEREAS each of the Decision Makersis satisfied that the test contained in the Legislation thatprovides the Decision Maker with the jurisdiction to make theDecision has been met;

THE DECISION of the Decision Makersunder the Legislation is that the Filer is exempt from the PersonalInspection Requirement in respect of the Reports for use inconnection with the Offering, provided that the Offering Documentis accepted by the TSX Venture before June 30, 2002, and theOffering Document and such Reports include a statement thata personal inspection has not been conducted by the qualifiedperson, as defined in NI 43-101, the reasons why a personalinspection was not conducted, and that relief was granted fromthe Personal Inspection Requirement by the Jurisdictions.

May 30, 2002.

"Brenda Leong"