RITCHIE BROS. AUCTIONEERS HOLDS LARGEST CANADIAN AUCTION IN COMPANY HISTORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 30, 2006


EDMONTON, AB Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA), the world's largest auctioneer of industrial equipment, today announced the results of its two-day, multi-million dollar unreserved auction held at its permanent auction site in Edmonton, Alberta. The unreserved public auction, which sold over 3,200 items, generated gross auction sales in excess of CA$52 million, making it the largest auction ever held in Canada in Company history. The previous record was a CA$47 million auction held in Grande Prairie, AB in 2005.

One of the reasons we had such a great auction was that the auction had such a diverse selection of equipment, said Brian Glenn, Regional Manager for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. There really seemed to be something for almost everyone, and the crowds came in droves. It was clear from our auction that the market remains strong for crawler tractors and excavators. The real estate sold very well too, but we were particularly pleased with the results for items selling on the second day: oilfield equipment, trucks, trailers and winch trucks.

Over 4,300 registered bidders from 17 countries, 40 U.S. states and 12 Canadian provinces and territories participated in the October 26 and 27, 2006 auction.

Close to 800 bidders registered to use the Company's rbauctionBid-Live real-time bidding service during the record-breaking auction. Internet participants purchased more than CA$7 million worth of trucks, equipment, and real estate at the two-day sale, which broke the previous record in Canada for the highest online gross auction sales (the previous record was more than CA$5 million). Internet participants were buyers or runner-up bidders on 22% of the auction lots available for online bidding.

People registered for the auction from all around the world, said Glenn. We had buyers from the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Egypt and Mexico, as well as from all over the U.S. and Canada. Thirty-three percent of gross auction sales were attributed to buyers from outside the province of Alberta.

There are over 22,000 truck and equipment items featured in 37 unreserved industrial auctions and 18 unreserved agricultural auctions in the upcoming Ritchie Bros. auction calendar. Details on all upcoming Ritchie Bros. auctions, including equipment that will be sold, are available on www.rbauction.com.