DE BEERS COMPLETES BULK SAMPLE PROGRAM OF TWO KENNADY LAKE PIPES

Vancouver, BC, May 7, 2001 -- Camphor Ventures Inc. (CDNX-CFV) (the Company") is pleased to announce that it has been notified by its joint-venture partner De Beers Canada Exploration Inc. (De Beers Canada), a wholly-owned subsidiary of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited (De Beers), that the planned winter 2001 bulk sample program of the Hearne and 5034 kimberlite pipes has been completed. De Beers recovered approximately 307 tonnes of kimberlite from the Hearne pipe and approximately 550 tonnes from the 5034 pipe. The kimberlite will be processed in Grand Prairie, Alberta and the resulting concentrates will be shipped to Johannesburg, South Africa for diamond recovery. The Hearne and 5034 pipes are two of the largest and have the two highest values of the five diamondiferous bodies in Kennady Lake, located on the joint-ventures AK claims in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

A crew of ice engineers was mobilized to the camp in December to thicken the drill pads, which required 95 inches (240 cm) of ice in order to support the large drill. Several pads were ready by mid-February. It was originally planned for drilling to commence in mid-late February but the unseasonably warm winter in the NWT resulted in the ice road from Yellowknife via Lac de Gras to Lupin being opened about two weeks later than planned. This delayed the transport of the drill to Kennady Lake and as a result drilling only started around mid-March. A drill with a diameter of 24 inches (610 mm), compared to 12-inch drills used in 1999 sampling program was used to drill to depths of up to 250 meters. The drill method used was a flood reverse system that is both diamond friendly" and on average produces larger chips of kimberlite than in the 1999 program.

De Beers recovered approximately 307 tonnes of kimberlite from the Hearne pipe and approximately 550 tonnes of kimberlite from the 5034 pipe. The exact tonnage numbers will be available once all the data has been analyzed. There were three holes drilled into the high grade northern part of the Hearne pipe and four holes into the high grade eastern lobe of the 5034 pipe. So, even though, fewer holes were drilled than originally planned due to the weather delay, the number of diamonds expected to be recovered will be adequate for valuation and modeling purposes. De Beers kept the drill going as long as ice conditions permitted, even past the closure of the winter road. The remaining kimberlite was shipped to Yellowknife and Hay River by aircraft at an extra expense to De Beers. The kimberlite samples are currently being processed in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada and the sample concentrates will subsequently be shipped to South Africa for recovery of the diamonds. The diamonds will then be valued in London at The Diamond Trading Company and after that the revenue per tonne modeling will be performed in Johannesburg. Final results are expected late summer.

The larger number of diamonds now available for evaluation purposes will increase the confidence of the revenue modeling and will hopefully positively impact the overall revenue per carat estimates. In addition, the use of the diamond friendly" flood reverse drilling method will hopefully result in more larger diamonds being recovered compared to the reverse circulation drilling method used in the 1999 bulk sample. An increase in the number of larger diamonds would very likely have a positive impact on diamond values.

The Company is very pleased that De Beers was able to complete the bulk sample in the short time period available under difficult conditions and that no expense was spared to complete it.

The AK and CJ claims, located in the Northwest Territories of Canada, are held 4.9% by Camphor Ventures Inc., 44.1% by Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (Nasdaq: MPVIF; TSE & CDNX: MPV) and 51% by De Beers Canada Exploration Inc.

On behalf of the Board of Directors
CAMPHOR VENTURES INC.
Hari B. Varshney
Director

This release may contain forward-looking statements regarding the Companys business or financial condition. Actual results could differ materially from those described in this news release as a result of factors, including, but not limited to the following: additional drilling, sampling and diamond valuations, engineering and construction timetables, financial arrangements, developments in world diamond markets, political developments in Canada, the timing of regulatory and environmental approval and other factors. With respect to additional exploration, actual events may differ from current expectations of the Company or its joint-venture partners and other factors.