Benton Resources has announced that Michael and Stephen Stares of Benton along with their large family from Benton, Newfoundland have been awarded the 2007 PDAC Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year award. The prestigious award recognizes contributions to the industry over the past 40 years by the Keats, Stares, Crocker and Barrett families, collectively one of the largest prospecting families in Canada. The family has been involved in numerous discoveries across Canada since the 1960s, which precipitated tens of millions of dollars in exploration expenditures. Ted and Allan Keats played a strategic roll in the discovery of the Duck Pond copper-zinc deposit located in central Newfoundland, which is currently being brought into production by Aur Resources. The family says it "is honoured to receive this esteemed award and thank the Prospectors and Developers Association for the recognition. The family would also like to thank all the people with whom they have worked over the years for the wealth of knowledge they shared, which has been integral to the achievements and recognition received within the mining and exploration community."

Benton, which is the first publicly traded company formed by members of the family, has a large portfolio of projects that have attracted joint venture partners including Teck Cominco and Xstrata Nickel. Benton’s flagship property is the Bermuda copper, platinum, palladium and gold project located within the Proterozoic Coldwell Complex near Marathon, Ontario. The project hosts the on-strike extension of the Marathon Cu-Pt-Pd-Au deposit boasting a resource of 2 Moz Pt+Pd+Au and 341 Mlb copper. Benton has completed 55 diamond drill holes over a 15-km strike length with very comparable results to the Marathon deposit. Benton’s best intercept was returned from hole B-06-20 located approximately 400 m north of the Marathon Deposit and assayed 1.25 g/t Pt+Pd+Au with 0.58% Cu over 102 m. Benton is currently planning a winter diamond drill programme of at least 10,000 m on the Bermuda project.