TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 2, 2011) - Alturas Minerals Corp. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:BVL)(BVLAC:ALT) is pleased to report that it has entered into an amendment to the purchase agreement with the vendors (the "Vendors") of the La Corina property originally signed on April 28, 2010, pursuant to which the Company has the option to acquire a 100% interest in the La Corina copper-gold project, located 70 kilometers northeast of La Serena in Region IV of northern Chile.

Under the terms of the amended agreement, the Vendors have agreed to reduce the option payments they are entitled to receive to $2.06 million instead of the $4.05 million included in the original agreement. All the remaining terms of the original option agreement remain unchanged including the schedule for making the option payments over a term of four years. The Company paid $172,433 on signing of the amended purchase agreement representing the total option payment due for 2011.

La Corina Copper-Gold Project

La Corina copper-gold project, located 70 kilometers northeast of La Serena in Region IV of northern Chile lies on the interpreted southerly extensions of the porphyry belt of northern Chile, the world´s most productive copper province. La Corina represents an important development for the Company in Chile, one of Latin America's premier mining jurisdictions.

In La Corina district, a Paleocene volcanic complex has been intruded by Eocene intrusive rocks; strong hydrothermal alteration and mineralization are associated with the intrusive phases. The presence of abundant tourmaline-bearing breccias within the project is also encouraging, and is a geological feature common to many large porphyry deposits such as El Teniente and Los Bronces in Chile, and Toquepala and Cuajone in Peru. Targets at La Corina consist of bulk tonnage, low grade, copper-gold porphyries concealed beneath an extensive copper-gold in soils anomaly plus smaller tonnage, higher grade, gold-copper breccia pipes.

Alturas completed a 1,400 meter drilling program in September 2010, which tested high priority copper-gold targets defined by detailed geochemical and geophysical surveys previously conducted by the Company.

Encouraging drilling results from the central segment of the east-west gold trend of up to 47.8 meters grading 0.90 grams/tonne gold, including sections of 3.05 meters grading 2.33 grams/tonne and 4.0 meters grading 2.87 grams/tonne gold, were reported by the Company in a press release dated October 13, 2010.

About Alturas Minerals Corp.

Alturas is a Canadian corporation, which is the parent company of Alturas Minerals S.A. ("Alturas Peru") and Alturas Chile Ltda ("Alturas Chile"). Alturas' exploration strategy is focused on the discovery of large epithermal gold mineralized deposits and copper-gold porphyry/skarn deposits in Peru and Chile.

Alturas Peru has been actively exploring various mineral projects in Peru since January 2004. Alturas' properties include five drill-ready mineral exploration projects located in central and southern Peru, which includes the Chapi Chapi-Utupara Copper-Gold Project, the Sombrero Copper-Gold Project, the Ccaccapaqui Gold-Silver Project, Pampa Colorada and the Huajoto Gold-Silver-Zinc Project. In addition, Alturas Peru has interests in four other exploration projects in Peru. In Chile, Alturas has an option to acquire 100% of the La Corina copper-gold porphyry property in northern Chile.

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Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements", which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Investors are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and results. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure documents filed from time to time with the Canadian and Peruvian securities authorities.