October 18, 2012, Vancouver � Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX.V: SMI) (FSE: SMK) (�Saturn� or the �Company�) has received the final results and interpretation of the airborne gravity-magnetic survey conducted over Saturn's Little Swan and Bannock Creek oil & gas properties in eastern Saskatchewan. The survey totaled 1,627 line-km with flight lines spaced at 300 meters. The survey was completed by Fugro Airborne Surveys of Ottawa, Ontario, and was designed to identify basement structures which potentially affect the depth and burial of the Devonian and older sedimentary formations which have proven to contain intercepts of oil source rocks.
The Company is please to report that the survey has identified several significant anomalies which are interpreted as a system of large-scale horst-and-graben structures bound by potential deep faults. Two independent methods, the SLUTH and Euler algorithms, were applied by Fugro for basement depth estimate, the cross-comparative results of which agree very strongly.
The presence of several deep and wide grabens indicate that the sedimentary formations underlying the Little Swan property are locally much thicker than was previously understood. This interpretation significantly upgrades the potential for oil generation from deeper sedimentary formations on the Little Swan property. Source rock intervals encountered within the Devonian and older formations in the shallow part of the basin are likely to reach the oil-generation window in such deep grabens where exposed to adequate temperature and pressure. Recently, Saturn reported the discovery of a significant interval of extremely rich oil source rock with TOC levels of up to 14.17% in the Devonian carbonate formations of the shallow part of the basin some 100 km up-dip and north of the Little Swan property (see Saturn news release, October 4, 2012).
The results of the gravity-magnetic survey indicate that graben-like depressions are locally affecting the entire Paleozoic succession and may provide excellent conditions for local oil generation much further north from the center of the Williston Basin than presently known. Saturns� 2010 discovery of a 4.4 meter section of oil impregnated Devonian carbonate rocks within the higher stratigraphic end-member of the Devonian succession is a strong indication of oil migration, most likely from deeper levels. Significant relief of the modeled Precambrian topography also provides varied pressure conditions for oil migration and structural elevations for the development of effective traps in potential reservoir rocks within the Devonian reef limestones and some older formations.
Saturn will be undertaking an exploration program for the Little Swan property which will include a 2D seismic survey designed to provide more precise indication and locations of potential oil kitchens and structural traps to be followed by exploration wells.
�We assumed that the influence that created the coal basins at shallow levels was also affecting deeper levels of the area�s geology,� stated Stan Szary, President & CEO. �The identification of these deeper basins beneath coal layers shows that our assumption has merit. If these deeper basin targets contain the same oil source rock we�ve discovered at shallower levels, the exciting question is if there is oil generation going on within these deeper basins.�
Dr. Krzysztof Mastalerz, P.Geo, is the Company�s Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.
About Saturn Minerals Inc.
Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX.V: SMI) (FSE: SMK) is a junior Canadian energy & resources company advancing a portfolio of energy and resource assets in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. The Company has made two bituminous coal discoveries at its Saskatoba Project since 2009, including one of the thickest coal seams encountered in Canada at 89 metres thickness. The Company also has strategic ownership in Inowending Exploration & Development Corp., a First Nations owned exploration & development company active in Canada�s prairie provinces.
To learn more, please contact the Company at (604) 685-6989 or visit: /
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
SATURN MINERALS INC.
s/ �Stan Szary�
Chief Executive Officer