African Queen Mines Ltd.
Suite 1925, Box 11553
650 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 4N8

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 20, 2009                                                                                               TSX.V: AQ         Frankfurt: QM0

AFRICAN QUEEN ACCELERATING WORK PROGRAM ON KEY GOLD TARGETS IN MOZAMBIQUE'S FINGOE BELT AS A RESULT OF FAVORABLE SAMPLING RESULTS

Vancouver, British Columbia - AFRICAN QUEEN MINES LTD. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has now identified several high priority gold targets in Mozambique's Fingoe Belt in Tete Province as a result of favorable results from its ongoing field exploration and geochemical sampling program in the region.  The Company's interests in the Fingoe belt, which encompass 9 Prospecting Licenses comprising approximately 1359 sq.km. in aggregate, arise from an Earn-In Agreement with Manica Minerals Ltd. ("Manica") dated August 9, 2006, as supplemented August 8, 2007, under which the Company can earn up to an 85% interest, and an Agreement dated April 10, 2007 with African Eagle Resources plc ("African Eagle") under which the Company now holds a 98% interest in certain prospecting licenses.

Over the past two years, the focus of the Fingoe Project has been methodical stream sampling of the region with follow-up of gold and base metals anomalies by field geologists who conducted further reconnaissance soil sampling, mapping, rock sampling and trenching.  The program has been very effective in identifying several priority sources of anomalous gold within the region. Due to the potential nugget effect of coarse gold, additional follow-up samples have been collected 100m upstream and downstream from the original positive samples.  Where a coincidence of gold in all three samples was found to exist the target has been given priority with respect to its rating and importance.

A number of significant gold in soil anomalies have been delineated as a result of the sampling program, with sampled grids showing highly anomalous values in some cases >200 ppb.  One such anomalous gold target within the region covers an area of approximately 10 km x 10 km.    Further sampling and trenching is planned for the coming months in order to develop drill-ready targets for core drilling later this year on structurally-controlled gold targets.

The Company's exploration activities on the Fingoe Gold Project are under the guidance of Senior Consulting Geologist Pete Siegfried, P.Geol., a qualified person.  Field studies have been carried out on behalf of the Company by Remote Exploration Services of Cape Town, South Africa. 

According to Irwin Olian, CEO of the Company, "We are delighted that our regional exploration program of geochemical sampling and related work on the Fingoe Belt has now generated several key targets for further investigation.  We intend to get on with further follow-up work as soon as possible with a view toward identifying discreet drill targets for potential primary hard-rock gold deposits. Our Fingoe Gold Project now gives the Company a significant gold opportunity in Mozambique coupled with our diamond programs in Botswana and Namibia."

About African-Queen

The Company is an exploratory resource company with diversified mineral properties in Southern Africa. It is exploring its properties in Botswana and Namibia for diamonds, and it is exploring its properties in Mozambique for gold and other metals. The Company licences in Botswana and Namibia comprise approximately 11,800 sq km of diamond prospects. In Mozambique it has approximately 1700 sq km of gold and other metals licences under agreements with two other companies. Its operations in Botswana are carried out through its operating subsidiary, PAM Botswana (Pty) Ltd.; its operations in Namibia are carried out through its operating subsidiary PAM Minerals Namibia (Pty) Ltd.; and its operations in Mozambique are carried out through its subsidiary PAM Mocambique Limitada.

The Company has its executive offices in Vancouver, Canada.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
AFRICAN QUEEN MINES, LTD.

"Irwin Olian"                         
Irwin Olian
Chairman & CEO

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The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of the information contained herein.  The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.