KELLOGG, IDAHO. New Jersey Mining Company (Symbol: NJMC - OTC Bulletin Board) is pleased to announce that is has signed an exploration lease with a mining lease option on the Golden Chest mine located near Murray, Idaho. The agreement is with Paymaster Resources Incorporated.

The Golden Chest was the largest lode producer in the Murray district producing 65,000 ounces of gold from narrow high grade veins. Newmont Exploration Limited spent over $500,000 on an exploration program at the Golden Chest in the late 1980's which consisted of soil and rock sampling, surface and underground mapping and 11,133 feet of drilling. Newmont’s work identified a potential open pit with an inferred geologic resource of 230,000 ounces of gold. The project did not meet Newmont’s project criteria, at the time, of one million ounces of open pit-able resource.

Data from Newmont’s drilling indicates a high grade intercept of 0.66 ounces per ton (23 gpt) over 10 feet (3.05 meters) at a depth of 115 feet below the surface. Newmont’s geologists believe the intercept is the faulted offset of the Katie-Dora vein which hosted the majority of production from the Golden Chest. Vein widths of the Katie-Dora varied from a few inches to ten feet and grades ranged up to 15 ounces per ton. NJMC plans to drive an exploration decline to investigate this area. If ore is encountered by the decline, it could be mined and shipped to the New Jersey mill in Kellogg for processing.

The Golden Chest veins are flatly-dipping, banded quartz veins ranging in thickness from centimeters to 3 meters and are generally conformable with bedding of Prichard formation argillite. Sulfide minerals including pyrite, arsenopyrite and galena occur with free gold in the quartz veins. Veins are stacked, in certain areas, to form bulk mineable bodies. Gold mineralization also occurs as disseminations in quartzite units of the Prichard formation.

A review of the exploration data indicates that the deepest hole drilled at the Golden Chest is only 425 feet. NJMC has evidence that the stacked quartz veins could extend to great depths significantly enhancing the long term underground potential of the Golden Chest. An exploration program to evaluate the Golden Chest at depth is being planned.

The agreement with Paymaster calls for a 2.5 year exploration period during which NJMC will issue 10,000 shares per six month period. If the mining lease is executed NJMC would pay 100,000 shares and a sliding scale net smelter return (NSR) royalty which increases with the gold price. The royalty is 3% up to a gold price of $400/oz and then increases to a maximum of 6% at higher gold prices, but the trigger prices for higher royalties will be adjusted for inflation. Also, NJMC would issue 50,000 shares for each 10,000 ounces of gold produced at the Golden Chest.

New Jersey Mining Company’s President, Fred Brackebusch, will give a presentation on our properties and plans at the Silver Summit Investment Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on September 27, 2003. The Silver Summit is open to the public and is an investment conference focusing on the companies of Idaho’s Silver Valley. More information can be obtained at: www.thesilversummit.com.

New Jersey Mining Company is involved in exploring for and developing gold, silver and base metal ore resources in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District of northern Idaho. The Company has a portfolio of six mineral properties in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District: the New Jersey mine, the Silver Strand mine, the Golden Chest mine, the Lost Eagle project, the CAMP project and the Wisconsin-Teddy project.