TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 12, 2012) - Colossus Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Colossus") (News - Market indicators)(OTCQX:COLUF) announces assay results from its expanded auger drilling program on the Elefante Area and its ongoing surface drilling program on the CMZ and GT Zone of its 75% owned Serra Pelada Gold-Platinum-palladium Project. The Serra Pelada Project is a Colossus-COOMIGASP joint venture and is located in the State of Pará, Brazil.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Follow-up auger drilling in the Elefante Area continues to delineate high grade gold in soils and saprolite with values of 7.81 g/t, 5.70 g/t and 18.00 g/t gold intersections within two metres from surface.
  
  
• SPD-132 intersected 4.5 metres grading 16.08 g/t gold, 0.61 g/t platinum and 1.19 g/t palladium in the GT Zone filling in a 50 metre wide gap.
  
  
• SPD-133 intersected 0.5 metres of 12.65 g/t gold and a separate 0.5 metres of 4.39 g/t gold in the upper limb zone, proving that this zone contains high-grade gold intervals and warrants further exploration.
  
  
• Drill results indicate that both the upper and lower limbs of the fold structure may be more important mineralization-bearing zones than previously believed. 
  
  

Claudio Mancuso, President & CEO of Colossus commented, "The auger results continue to expand the potential of the Elefante Area. The high grade intercepts in soils close to surface could have immediate economic potential while the gold encountered in bedrock bodes well for our planned drill program on the Elefante Area." Commenting further Mr. Mancuso said, "The drill results on the GT Zone and CMZ expand our knowledge of the upper and lower limbs indicating their potential to host additional mineralization. The GT Zone intercepts continue to suggest additional potential for this zone to expand down-plunge and along strike. We also continue to infill drill the CMZ in preparation for a bulk sample later this year."

DETAILS

Results from the current auger drilling program in the Elefante Area can be found in Table 1 below. Results from drilling of infill holes on the CMZ and GT (lower-limb) mineralized zones can be found in Table 2 below.

TABLE 1: SIGNIFICANT AUGER DRILLING RESULTS

Elefante Area

A follow-up auger drilling program was conducted in the Elefante Area after the initial auger holes SPTRD-016 and SPTRD-017 reported high grade mineralization in the area (see Press Release dated December 15, 2011 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.colossusminerals.com). A twenty-three hole grid system was established and auger holes were drilled on 20 metre centers in order to establish a vector for the earlier results. The results of the program can be found in Table 1 above and the positions of the holes may be seen in the location maps in Figures 1 and 2 below.

The latest results, which include values ranging from 1.06 g/t to 18.00 g/t of gold all within two metres from surface, suggest there could be a broad halo of gold mineralization occurring in the Elefante Area sourced by a deeper bedrock zone. SPTRD090 returned 1.5 metres of 2.71 g/t gold, 0.11 g/t platinum and 0.12 g/t palladium in the saprolite. This hole is located due west and along strike of the two high grade holes reported in December 2011 (SPTRD016 and SPTRD017). Currently the trend (approximately 100 metres by 50 metres) remains open to the west, east and north. Additional auger drilling is planned in the next few weeks to expand on the current program. The resulting data will be used to help guide the Diamond drilling program that is tentatively scheduled for late in the second quarter of this year.

The Elefante Area is situated roughly two kilometres southeast of the historic Serra Pelada pit and consists of siltstone and sandstone units of the Paleoproterozoic Rio Fresco group of lithologies similar to those hosting the CMZ mineralization. Although the carbon overprinting that characterizes the CMZ mineralization has not been identified at Elefante to date, precious metal mineralization does occur in this area. If a sufficient area of contiguous metal content is identified then tight infill auger drilling would be justified in order to establish a resource calculation for what could be an easily mined resource. Additional auger holes are planned and will be executed in the coming weeks in order to delineate the extent of this mineralized area and to try and identify the bedrock source as a target for Diamond drill testing tentatively scheduled for late in the second quarter of 2012.

TABLE 2: SIGNIFICANT DRILLING RESULTS

GT Zone

SPD-132 was drilled on section 75NE and was designed to test for mineralization behind SPD-127, thought to be just outside of the GT Zone corridor. The results returned 4.45 metres of 16.08 g/t gold, 0.61 g/t platinum and 1.19 g/t palladium and filled in a 50 metre wide gap in this part of the zone. This intersection is only 140 metres northwest of the high grade CMZ and could indicate that the GT Zone itself is a higher grade corridor within the extensive lower limb. The GT Zone remains open to the southeast and further drilling is underway to test for mineralization between the GT Zone and CMZ to see if these zones are in fact part of a single, large lower limb mineralized system. Figure 3 shows the location of the new drill holes on the GT Zone and the CMZ (described below) and plan views of the mineralized zones explored to date at Serra Pelada. Further drilling will be conducted with the objective of connecting the GT Zone to the LL Zone which occurs roughly 200 metres northwest of the GT Zone.

Central Mineralized Zone

The results in Table 2 above suggest that the focus of future surface drilling needs to be placed on the upper and lower limbs as specific target zones. Holes SPD-133 and SPD-135 indicate that these zones contain high grade values locally over significant thicknesses. With more focused drill testing, the upper limb has the potential to develop into a new zone while the lower limb is exhibiting potential to host economic mineralization between the GT Zone and the CMZ.

SPD-133 was drilled along section 225NE and was designed to investigate the upper limb mineralization and the CMZ. The hole was successful in returning two narrow intervals (0.5 metres each) of 12.65 g/t and 4.39 g/t gold, confirming that the upper limb mineralization contains significant gold grades and that further drill holes designed to specifically target the upper limb at better angles and with tighter spacing are in order to evaluate its full potential.

SPD-134A was drilled along section 25SW and was designed to fill a gap between holes SPD-032 and SPD-047. The results returned 4.19 metres of 19.59 g/t gold, 1.60 g/t platinum and 3.26 g/t palladium, reinforcing the high grade nature of the mineralization representing the CMZ and demonstrating that it can lie tightly up against the nose of the fold. These results suggest that the ongoing, tightly spaced underground drilling may reveal additional areas of the CMZ that were not detected by the widely spaced surface drill holes.

SPD-135 was drilled along section 25NE and was designed to test for CMZ mineralization in close proximity to the hinge of the fold structure. This hole intersected a classic succession of zones by first intersecting the upper limb and returning 88.65 g/t gold interval over 0.58 metres within a broader envelope that returned 11.87 g/t gold over 5.60 metres (Platinoids are typically not found in this zone). This upper limb intersection filled in a roughly 60 metre gap between holes indicating that this portion of the upper limb may be entirely mineralized and connects with the CMZ. Further drilling is underway to fill gaps between the current upper limb mineralization and the CMZ. The next mineralized zones intersected 5.19 metres of 3.14 g/t gold, 1.67 g/t platinum and 3.07 g/t palladium followed by 5.25 metres of 4.60 g/t gold in the central portion of the zone and 2.40 metres of 10.61 g/t gold, 2.07 g/t platinum and 3.26 g/t palladium in the bottom portion of the CMZ before exiting into the surrounding sandstone. The latter results indicate that there is mineralization right up until the contact with the surrounding country rock. Surface drilling of the CMZ does not always intersect the precise nose fold and therefore potential exists for an increase in the size of the zone when the underground drilling, which will drill almost perpendicular to the CMZ, is conducted and should return the true widths of the entire mineralized envelope.

SPD-136 was drilled along section 175NE to test a roughly 50 metre wide gap in the CMZ where there was little drill hole information. The hole intersected 6.42 metres of 2.14 g/t gold, 0.76 g/t platinum and 4.45 g/t palladium. Although the mineralization encountered in this hole is lower than the typical high grade for the CMZ, there were two narrow subintervals within this intercept that returned 15.82 g/t and 14.35 g/t palladium indicating the area to be particularly enriched in palladium. The results from this hole confirm the narrow occurrence of the CMZ in this location, near the interface between the historic workings and the beginning of the underground portion of the CMZ, and which expands as we move down dip.

Serra Pelada Geology

Gold-platinum-palladium mineralization at Serra Pelada overprints metasediments occupying the hinge of a large fold. The CMZ comprises mainly steeply dipping bodies in the fold hinge zone but extends onto the upper and lower limbs of the fold. The GT Zone represents shallowly-dipping gold-platinum-palladium mineralization and occurs as siliceous, argillic and carbonaceous alteration and iron oxide-rich breccias on the lower limb of the main fold.

Technical Information

Diamond drilling was HQ cored. Sampling of core (by Colossus personnel) and sample preparation (by Intertek Limited, Parauapebas) were carried out under strict protocols recommended in the National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report dated January 31, 2010 on the Serra Pelada Project. After photographing and logging, core intervals (averaging one metre in length) were cut and/or split in half, yielding samples of two to three kilogram mass. Where core recoveries were low, intervals were composited to yield approximately one kilogram minimum sample masses. Intertek pulverized one or two kilogram splits (>95% passing 106 microns) from the crushed (>95% passing 1.7 mm), dried samples. Duplicates, blanks and certified gold-PGE reference materials were inserted in the sample train by Colossus personnel prior to Intertek preparation work.

Intertek inserted additional blanks, duplicates and high grade gold/PGE reference materials in the assay stream and replicate or duplicate assays were performed routinely and on most medium- to high-grade materials. Fire assays for gold, platinum and palladium were on 25 gram subsamples utilizing a lead-rich collector material and AA finish by Intertek. The assay lab dispatched assay certificate originals directly to Resource and Exploration Mapping Ltd., an independent company, which manages Colossus' database. 

The Intertek assay results for blanks, duplicates, replicates and also all reference materials were well within generally accepted QA/QC measures. 200 gram aliquots of medium and high grade pulps were rotary split from each pulp by Intertek and one of these samples was securely shipped directly by Intertek to Genalysis Limited, Perth Laboratory for check assaying.

Graham Long, Vice President, Exploration of Colossus, is a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for this release and has verified the contents disclosed.

About Colossus:

Colossus is a development-stage mining company focused on bringing its Serra Pelada project into production. Serra Pelada, located in the mineral prolific Carajas region in the State of Pará, Brazil, is host to one of the highest grade gold and platinum group metals deposits in the world. Between 1980 and 1986 Serra Pelada was host to the largest precious metals rush in Latin American history. Coverage of this famous mining rush by 60 Minutes can be viewed by following the link below. Colossus Minerals shares, warrants and notes trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbols CSI, CSI.WT.A and CSI.NT respectively and in the United States its Common Shares trade on the OTCQX under the symbol COLUF. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=299887

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD‐LOOKING INFORMATION

Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the timing and nature of future exploration and development programs that are dependent on projections that may change as drilling continues, or if unexpected ground conditions are encountered. The Company does not currently have any mineral properties that are in production or that contain a reserve as defined by National Instrument 43-101. In addition, areas of exploration potential are identified which will require additional drilling to determine whether or not they contain similar mineralization to areas that have been explored in more detail. Significant additional drilling is required at Serra Pelada to fully understand system size.

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Colossus, certain statements in this press release relating but not limited to the Company's exploration and development plans, activities and intentions, constitute "forward‐looking information" within the meaning of the Securities Act (Ontario) or "forward‐looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment based on current facts and assumptions that management considers reasonable. Forward‐looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "target", "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", believe", "anticipate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "appear to", "may" or "will" occur. Forward‐looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward‐looking statements. The factors include but are not limited to risks related to the joint venture operation, actual results of exploration activities, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, delays in obtaining government approvals, the uncertainties of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, the uncertainties inherent to conducting business in Brazil and the rest of Latin America, the availability of equipment and supplies, unexpected adverse climate conditions, the reliance on only a few key members of management, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed with Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities and other regulatory filings which are posted on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Unless required by law, Colossus undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward‐looking statements.

To view "Figure 1: Auger drill hole location plan for the Elefante Area," please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CSI1203figure1.pdf.

To view "Figure 2: The latest auger drill hole results in detail," please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CSI1203figure2.pdf.

To view "Figure 3: Plan View of Serra Pelada Mineralized Zones with location of reported holes," please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CSI1203figure3.pdf.