March 20, 2012

Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX-V: MIN) (Frankfurt: 3XS) (OTCQX: EXMGF) (�Excelsior� or the �Company�) is pleased to announce that it has engaged Haley & Aldrich, a national underground and environmental consulting firm with significant project permitting expertise, to develop a comprehensive permitting plan for the North Star deposit at the Company�s Gunnison Copper Project in southeast Arizona.

Excelsior has engaged Haley & Aldrich to support the completion of two related tasks;
1.    To design a hydrological program that will lead to a more complete understanding of North Star�s hydro-geological conditions.
2.    To provide environmental, engineering and strategic services related to hydrologic studies that will lead to the successful permitting of the project.

Eric Mears, Vice President and Manager of Mining Services leads a team at Haley & Aldrich that has been intimately involved in the permitting of the Florence in-situ copper recovery project beginning with Magma Copper in 1996.  The team has also participated on other in-situ development and optimization projects in the southwest US. This proven expertise with in-situ recovery permitting and operation strengthens Excelsior�s credibility with the regulatory and investment community.

Speaking on the engagement, Mr. Mears stated, �Haley & Aldrich generates value for our clients by integrating our engineering and environmental expertise with lean principles and by sharing what we�ve learned in our own journey toward sustainability. Excelsior exemplifies this ethos by visualizing a project that vastly reduces the typical impacts that are associated with traditional open pit projects. Assuming the Gunnison Project reaches the production stage, Excelsior will employ advanced mining techniques that will provide for an efficient operation with limited environmental impacts.  Haley & Aldrich is pleased to be leading the Gunnison Project through the myriad of state and federal permitting required to bring this facility into full operation.�

Stephen Twyerould, President and CEO of Excelsior added, �We are extremely fortunate to have retained a firm with such a wealth of direct permitting experience related to in-situ copper projects in Arizona. We look forward to successfully completing the permitting process with Haley & Aldrich.�

About Haley & Aldrich
For over 50 years, Haley & Aldrich has been advising mining companies, developers, major institutions and Fortune 100 clients on their environmental and geotechnical challenges. Established in 1957 with a focus on underground engineering and problem solving, Haley & Aldrich has built an impressive resume of more than 25,000 engineering and environmental consulting projects.  With more than 25 offices in the United States, Haley & Aldrich is recognized for strategic environmental, engineering, and management consulting services based on a tradition of specialized capabilities in the geosciences.  The firm�s sophisticated mining practice delivers a full range of environmental, geotechnical and water resource services for metals, industrial minerals and construction materials clients.  

About Excelsior
Excelsior is an exploration and development company with a copper project located within the copper porphyry belt of Arizona.  The Gunnison Copper Project is located close to the required infrastructure and its oxide resource has the potential to be mined using in-situ recovery methods.  The Excelsior team consists of experienced professionals with proven track records of advancing projects towards production. Excelsior�s exploration work on the Gunnison Property is supervised by Dr. Stephen Twyerould, Fellow of AUSIMM, President and CEO of Excelsior, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Dr. Twyerould has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.

Further details about Excelsior can be found at: http://www.excelsiormining.com.  Further information about the Gunnison Copper Project can be found in the technical report filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com entitled: �Gunnison Copper Project Preliminary Economic Assessment, NI 43-101 Technical Report� dated November 18, 2011.



ON BEHALF OF THE EXCELSIOR BOARD

"Stephen Twyerould"
President & CEO


For further information regarding this press release, please contact:

Excelsior Mining Corp.
Concord Place, Suite 300, 2999 North 44th Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85018.

JJ Jennex, Vice President, Corporate Affairs
T: 604-681-8030 x240
E: info@excelsiormining.com
www.excelsiormining.com


Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation; statements about the completion of the permitting process, the efficiency and environmental impacts of future operations, the future exploration on and the development of the Gunnison Project and the ability to mine Gunnison using in-situ recovery mining techniques are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mineral exploration; fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; issues in obtaining required permits; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume and the additional risks identified in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements, the �Risk Factors� section of the Company�s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2010 or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and no securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this release.