(2) Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2021) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ('Benton' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce it has received the second anniversary option payment of $25,000 from Rio Tinto Exploration Canada ("RTEC") for Baril Lake West project (see PR: Benton Completes Option to Purchase Deal with Rio Tinto on Baril Lake Project, dated January 2, 2019). Baril Lake West is situated approximately 4km west of Benton's Bark Lake project, also under option to RTEC (see PR: Benton Options Bark Lake Cu-Ni-PGE Project to Rio Tinto, dated October 25, 2016), and immediately adjacent to RTEC's Baril Lake Project where RTEC discovered significant mineralization grading 4.78%Ni and 0.43% Cu over 2.08m in 2018 (Ontario ENDM Assessment File: 200000017073). These projects are approximately 100km west of the Escape Lake and TBN projects, along the major crustal-scale, east-west oriented, Quetico fault, in which the Escape Lake and TBN projects held by Clean Air Metals Inc. are situated. While the Baril Lake West and Bark Lake projects are early stage in nature, the Company believes they have the potential to contain a magmatic conduit system that could host Cu-Ni-PGEs. At Bark Lake, numerous mineralized boulders near the Quetico Fault contain anomalous Cu-Ni-PGEs grades up to