SPOKANE, WA--August 12, 2008-- Minera Andes Inc. (TSX: MAI and US OTC: MNEAF) announced details of production cash costs (in US dollars) at the San Jos� mine for the second quarter of 2008. The San Jos� project is operated by Minera Santa Cruz S.A. ("MSC") and is owned 49% by Minera Andes and 51% by Hochschild Mining plc ("Hochschild") (HOCM.L: Reuters and HOC LN: Bloomberg - London Stock Exchange). Hochschild is the operator of the project. For the second quarter, production cash costs averaged $322 per ounce of gold and $6.16 per ounce of silver. As previously reported in our July 30, 2008 news release, metal prices for sales of metal in Q2 2008 on a weighted average basis were $901 per ounce of gold and $16.47 per ounce of silver.

The production cash costs are shown on a co-product basis and are defined as the sum of the geology, mining, processing plant, general and administration costs divided by the number of ounces of gold and silver produced at the mine. Production cash costs include royalties, refining and treatment charges and sales costs are applied to dor� but concentrate sales do not include refining, treatment charges and sales costs. Depreciation is not included in the production costs. The production cash costs are calculated using the value of the 12,410 ounces of gold and 1,093,291 ounces of silver produced in the form of dor�, precipitates, and concentrates and the cost to produce those ounces as defined above ($10,727,957). Our co-product reporting is based on the Q2 2008 average London PM fix for gold and the London fix for silver.

The San Jos� mine is at full production of approximately 750 tonnes per day, but is being expanded to double the production rate to 1500 tonnes per day by year-end 2008. A total of 60,603 tonnes of ore was mined in the second quarter with an average grade of 7.56 grams per tonne gold and 681 grams per tonne of silver.

Allen Ambrose, president of Minera Andes, said "The San Jos� mine is producing high grade gold and silver ore from an underground operation. This means, we move fewer tonnes to produce an ounce of gold or silver which in turn helps us maintain lower costs per ounce. We anticipate that production costs will trend even lower as the production is doubled and we receive the benefit of the economies of scale from the expansion.."

Allen V. Ambrose, Minera Andes' President, who is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the information used in this news release and has supervised the preparation of the information and reviewed all information used in this news release.

Minera Andes is a gold, silver and copper exploration company working in Argentina. The Company holds about 304,000 acres of mineral exploration land in Argentina including the 49% owned San Jos� silver/gold mine that commenced production last year. Minera Andes is also exploring the Los Azules copper project in San Juan province, where an exploration program is underway to define a resource and scoping study. Other exploration properties, primarily silver and gold, are being evaluated in southern Argentina. The Corporation presently has 189,456,935 shares issued and outstanding.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures: In this news release, we use the term "production cash cost." The production cash costs are calculated on a co-product basis and are defined as the sum of the geology, mining, processing plant, general and administration costs divided by the number of ounces of gold and silver produced at the mine. Production cash costs include royalties, refining and treatment charges and sales costs applied to dor� but the concentrate sales do not include refining, treatment charges and sales costs. Depreciation is not included in the production cash costs. We use production cash cost per ounce as an operating indicator. We provide this measure to our investors to allow them to also monitor operational efficiencies of our mine at San Jos�. Production cash cost per ounce should be considered as Non-GAAP Financial Measures and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are material limitations associated with the use of such Non-GAAP measures. Since these measures do not incorporate revenues, changes in working capital and non-operating cash costs, they are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under GAAP. Changes in numerous factors including, but not limited to, mining rates, milling rates, gold grade, gold recovery, and the costs of labor, consumables and mine site operations general and administrative activities can cause these measures to increase or decrease.

This news is submitted by Allen V. Ambrose, President and Director of Minera Andes Inc.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements", including, but not limited to, the statements regarding the Company's strategic plans, evolution of mineral resources and reserves, work programs, development plans and exploration budgets at the Company's San Jos� Project. Investors should be aware that the introduction of new technology such as ILR can create added risk in achieving metallurgical performance. The forward-looking statements express, as at the date of this press release, the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. In particular, there can be no assurance that commercial production at the San Jos� mine will be achieved on a timely basis, or at all, that production capacity at the San Jos� mine will be successfully increased, that resources and reserves at the San Jos� mine will be increased or that Minera Andes will successfully raise the funds necessary to maintain its interest in the San Jos� mine. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, risks associated with foreign operations, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and other risks. We refer readers to the risk factors and uncertainties described in the Company's continuous disclosure record, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Minera Andes' joint venture partner, a subsidiary of Hochschild Mining plc, and its affiliates do not accept responsibility for the use of project data or the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors:
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits with "mineral reserves" that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms in this press release, such as "mineral resources", that the SEC guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in our filings with the SEC, because these terms are common usage in Canada and form part of our Canadian filing requirements.


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