Champion Minerals Files Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment Study for its Fire Lake North Project (ccnm)

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 6, 2012) - Champion Minerals Inc. ("Champion" or the "Company") (TSX:CHM)(FRANKFURT:P02) is pleased to announce the filing on SEDAR of its updated National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") study on the Fire Lake North Project.

As reported previously by the Company on November 21, 2011, some highlights of the PEA study include the following:

• Based on a 25 year financial analysis of one production line at the concentrator, the Fire Lake North Base Case has a Net Present Value of $4 billion at a discounted cash flow rate of 8%.

• The Internal Rate of Return for the project is 41.5% and the payback period is 2.3 years.

• For the first 5 years of production, 10 million tonnes of concentrate will be produced annually from 23 million tonnes of Run of Mine at a head grade of 34.2% total iron and a strip ratio of 2.46:1, yielding a weight recovery of 43.2%.

• Average annual production of 8.7 million tonnes of iron concentrate for the first 25 years grading 65% total iron with "In Pit" resources sufficient for a 40 year mine life.

• The PEA study recommends investigating the option to double the production rate based on the 922 million tonnes of "In Pit" resources1.

A copy of the technical report will also be available on Champion's website at www.championminerals.com.

The PEA was completed by Dr. André Allaire, Eng., M.Eng., Ph.D., and Mr. Stéphane Normandin Eng., from BBA, an international, multi-disciplinary, engineering firm with expertise in mining and metallurgy, based in Montreal, (Quebec). The PEA study has an accuracy of +/-30%, which is considered industry standard for preliminary capital and operating cost estimates.

The PEA has a higher degree of detail than normally required and will facilitate the ongoing Fire Lake North Feasibility Study that is due in 2012.

Tom Larsen, Champion's President and CEO states, "The results from the PEA base case production scenario indicate Fire Lake North is a viable and economically robust project. Discussions are ongoing with strategic partners and stakeholders to evaluate various rail transportation options that could potentially lower the transportation costs significantly."

The PEA study is based on a stand-alone operation at Fire Lake North and does not consider any other adjacent projects in the area (refer to the appended Figure 1 map). The ongoing resource definition drilling program is designed to convert a significant portion of the current Inferred mineral resources to the Measured and Indicated categories for the 2012 Feasibility Study.

The Fire Lake North Project

Fire Lake North is located adjacent (to the north) of ArcelorMittal's operating Fire Lake Mine and is 60 km to the south of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.'s Bloom Lake Mine in northeastern Quebec. Fire Lake North is situated at the southern end of the Labrador Trough, known to be coarser grained due to higher grade metamorphism within the Grenville geological Province. The Fermont-Wabush-Labrador City Iron Ore District is a world renowned Iron ore mining camp, and is considered to be an optimal location to develop iron ore resource projects.

The four iron ore producers in the vicinity comprise Canada's Iron ore production currently estimated at more than 40 million tonnes of Iron concentrate and pellets per year, including production from Cliff's Resources Bloom Lake Mine which was commissioned last year by Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Limited. It was the first mine to be built in this district since the 1970's.

About Champion Minerals Inc.