Gold Intercepts Include 40m at 6.8 g/t

SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - March 20, 2012) - International Minerals Corporation (TSX: IMZ) (SWISS: IMZ) announces additional drill results from its 100%-owned Goldfield gold project in southern Nevada where IMZ anticipates completing a feasibility study in the third quarter of 2012. The Company is also pleased to announce positive results from a series of metallurgical tests on mineralized material from the project.

The Goldfield Project comprises three main mineralized areas, Gemfield, McMahon Ridge and Goldfield Main (see attached map in Appendix 1). In addition the property contains several identified exploration targets which are currently being evaluated.

The new drill assay results include reverse circulation ("RC") and core drill holes designed to define, extend and upgrade the existing mineral resources at the Gemfield deposit as part of an ongoing feasibility study that is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2012. Gemfield represents the largest percentage of the currently known mineral resources at the Goldfield project.

New assay results for 24 core holes totaling 5,619m and 62 RC drill holes totaling 8,590m are summarized in Appendix 2. The samples were submitted to the Inspectorate laboratory in Reno, Nevada for sample preparation and analysis, along with standards of known gold grade for quality control.

To date IMZ has reported drill assay results for a total of 244 RC and 43 core drill holes totaling 56,842m at the Goldfield project.

Definition/Extension/Exploration Drilling Program

Highlights of the new assay results from the Gemfield area include the following intercepts:

• 24.4m at 3.1 g/t in drill hole Gemc006 (core)
• 12.2m at 3.1 g/t in Gemc 025 (core)
• 38.1m at 2.1 g/t in Gemc 026 (core)
• 50.3m at 1.2 g/t in Gemc 029 (core)
• 67.1m at 2.6 g/t in Gemc 030 (core)
• 25.9m at 2.7 g/t in Gem 434 (RC)
• 44.2m at 1.7 g/t in Gem 436 (RC)
• 39.6m at 6.8 g/t in Gem 443 (RC)

Note: All uncut average gold grades; true widths are between 70% and 100% of drill intercept width.

The Extension Drilling program has been focused in the southeast part of the Gemfield deposit as well as the down-dip extension to the west of Gemfield, the latter program being designed to define the distance that the State Highway 95 needs to be relocated so as not to sterilize any potential future extensions of the Gemfield deposit.

The Definition Drilling program has two main aims: (a) to upgrade areas of inferred resources to the measured or indicated category: and (b) to better define the known high-grade zones within the deposit. This definition drilling will help increase the quality of the resource estimation that is being conducted as part of the ongoing feasibility study for the Goldfield project.

Metallurgical results:

Final results have been received for column leach tests on composites generated from the Gemfield and McMahon Ridge deposits. The results show that the Gemfield composites returned metallurgical gold recoveries of 85 to 90%, whilst the composites from McMahon Ridge gave metallurgical gold recoveries from 36 to 79%.

Overall metallurgical recovery to be used in the ongoing feasibility study has not yet been defined by IMZ, but is expected to be in the range of 80 to 90% for Gemfield and 60 to 70% for McMahon Ridge.

The composites were generated from down-hole intercepts of similar grade and lithology and submitted to McClelland Laboratories, Inc. in Reno, Nevada for column leach testing, where they were crushed to 100% passing 12.5mm and leached for 60 days.

 Table 1. Gemfield Deposit Metallurgical Testwork Results

Note 1: Head grade is a back-calculated grade using gold extracted in solution and final tail assays.

Table 2. McMahon Ridge Deposit Metallurgical Testwork Results

Note 1: Head grade is a back-calculated grade using gold extracted in solution and final tail assays.
Note 2: CN Sol/FA ratio refers to the results of laboratory cyanide shake tests compared to gold fire assay results. Industry-wide, the cyanide shake test is considered to be a good indicator of a sample's amenability to cyanide leaching, although it is not considered a true metallurgical test and only provides indicative results suitable for metallurgical domain definition.

Feasibility Study Update

The independent feasibility study on the Gemfield and McMahon Ridge deposits will be carried out by Micon International Limited of Toronto, Canada and is expected to be complete in mid-2012, and will determine the economic viability of two open pit mines providing feed to a central heap leach process operation. Data relative to the Goldfield Main deposit is not being included in the current feasibility study as IMZ believes the known mineralization is not amenable to heap leaching. Data from Goldfield Main deposit will, however, be analyzed in the near future as part of an envisaged project expansion to include a milling scenario with agitation leaching.

Environmental and Permitting

The Environmental Baseline Study (EBS) has advanced significantly in the following areas: hydrogeology/hydrology, geochemistry, archaeology, selected biological aspects and socioeconomic baseline. The remaining field studies will be completed during the spring/early summer of 2012 with final reporting in the third quarter. The Plan of Operations (PoO) will be developed based on the Feasibility Study. Water rights acquisition for the project is also in progress.

IMZ initiated discussions with the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the second half of 2011. The key message was that BLM has a fast-tracking mechanism in place for permitting in order to expedite project development, with timelines ranging from 12 to 18 months.

The PoO and EBS have been targeted for completion and submission to the BLM in the summer of 2012, and subject to their approval, these milestones will trigger the initiation of the permitting process, which is anticipated to be completed by the end of calendar year 2013.

There have also been meetings and consultation with the appropriate authorities of Esmeralda and Nye Counties, as well as local Goldfield and Tonopah residents. Both the residents and the county officials have continued to provide support and positive feedback for the Goldfield project.

Existing Goldfield Project Mineral Resources

The current estimated mineral resources for the overall Goldfield project are:

Gemfield and McMahon Ridge Deposits

• 826,000 ounces of Measured and Indicated resources, contained in 22.7 million tonnes ("Mt") at an average grade of 1.1 g/t gold¿ and
  
  
• 25,000 ounces of Inferred resources, contained in 1.1 Mt at an average grade of 0.7 g/t gold.
  

Goldfield Main Deposit

• 421,000 ounces of Measured and Indicated resources, contained in 8.5 Mt at an average grade of 1.5 g/t gold¿ and
  
  
• 360,000 ounces of Inferred resources, contained in 6.6 Mt at an average grade of 1.7 g/t gold.
  

The gold cut-off grades used were 0.34 g/t for Gemfield and McMahon Ridge and 0.4 g/t for Goldfield Main.

Mineral resource estimates at the Goldfield project have been conducted separately for the Goldfield Main deposit and the Gemfield/McMahon Ridge deposits:

• at Goldfield Main, the mineral resources were estimated in 2011 by Qualified Person ("QP") R.Mohan Srivastava P.Geo (see IMZ press release dated February 1^st, 2011).
  
  
• at Gemfield and McMahon Ridge, the mineral resources were estimated in 2005 by Watts, Griffis and McOuat, with John R. Sullivan, P.Geo as the QP.
  

About International Minerals

International Minerals is a silver-gold producer, explorer and developer with silver-gold production from its 40%-owned Pallancata Mine in Peru, which is operated by Hochschild and in 2011 was one of the top-10 primary silver mines in the world. Production for Pallancata in calendar year 2011 was approximately 8.8 million ounces of silver and 34,000 ounces of gold (on a 100% project basis). Also in Peru and partnered with Hochschild is the Inmaculada project, which is scheduled to be in production by December 2013 and produce approximately 124,000 ounces of gold and 4.2 million ounces of silver a year on a 100% project basis (IMZ owns 40%).

In addition to Inmaculada and Pallancata, IMZ also owns a 100% ownership interests in advanced stage gold projects in Nevada (Goldfield and Converse) and variable interests in gold projects in Ecuador (Rio Blanco 100% and Gaby 60%).

IMZ also holds a 3% NSR royalty from Barrick Gold Corporation's Ruby Hill gold mine in Nevada, which produced approximately 128,000 gold ounces in 2011.

IMZ is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (since 1994) and the Swiss Stock Exchange (since 2002).

The technical information reported in this news release was reviewed by IMZ's Qualified Person, VP Corporate Development, Nick Appleyard.

To acess this news release from IMZ's website, please click this link:
http://www.intlminerals.com/newsreleases.php.

Cautionary Statement:

Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities law requirements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding mineral resource estimates and planned feasibility studies. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks of estimating mineral resources, risk of scale-up of laboratory metallurgical testwork, risks of timely completion of feasibility and other technical studies and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's Renewal Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2011, which is available at www.sedar.com under the Company's name. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Appendix 2: Goldfield Project- Significant Drill Results
IMZ News Release dated March 20, 2012

NOTE: NSV means No Significant Values. True width is estimated to be between 70 to 100% of the drill intersection width. Grid coordinates in the USA are quoted in feet. However the information pertaining to the drill depth, intercepts and assays are all quoted in metric units.