VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 13, 2009) -

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Peter Bradshaw, Ph. D., P. Eng., President & CEO of First Point Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FPX) ("First Point" or the "Company"), is very pleased to announce that First Point has entered into a option agreement whereby Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Inc. ("Cliffs"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., and its wholly-owned Canadian exploration subsidiary have been granted an option to earn an initial 51% interest in a joint venture to advance the Decar nickel alloy property in central BC. At the same time, Cliffs has agreed to subscribe to a private placement of First Point shares.

Cliffs' parent company, an international mining and natural resources company, operates iron ore and coal mines in North America, South America and Australia. It has extensive operating experience with large scale magnetic and gravity processing, both of which could be directly applicable to the dense, highly magnetic nickel iron alloy First Point has identified at Decar. Cliffs also maintains a major metallurgical testing facility, and as part of its due diligence, undertook initial metallurgical testing of the Decar nickel alloy mineralization.

Under the terms of the option agreement, Cliffs can earn an initial 51% interest in a joint venture on the Decar property by spending US$5million on the property in four years, of which US$1million is a firm commitment in year one. First Point will manage the initial exploration activities.

Upon Cliffs exercising its option, the parties will form a joint venture, with Cliffs having an initial 51% participating interest and First Point holding a 49% participating interest. In addition, First Point will have a 1% net smelter return royalty interest in all products produced from the Decar property. Cliffs may increase its interest in the joint venture to 60% by completing a scoping study, to 65% by completing a pre-feasibility study, and to 75% by completing a feasibility study in a form acceptable to lending institutions. The feasibility study will, amongst other things, include a full report in conformity with Canada's National Instrument 43-101 standards. Should either party's participating interest in the joint venture be reduced to less than 10%, its interest will automatically be converted to a 1% net smelter return royalty interest. If First Point is the converting party, it will have, in the aggregate, a 2% net smelter return royalty interest.

Cliffs has agreed to subscribe in a private placement for 14,376,069 common shares of First Point at a price of C$0.09 per share for a total investment of C$1,293,846, equal to 19.9% of the issued shares of First Point. The private placement is subject to acceptance by the regulatory authorities and the First Point shares issued will be subject to a "hold" period of four months and one day from closing. Cliffs will have the right to appoint one person to First Point's Board of Directors.

The target at the Decar property in central BC, as previously announced, is a large bulk tonnage nickel deposit suitable for open pit mining on the same scale as several of the large open pit copper mines operating in British Columbia. The nickel is in the form of a nickel-iron alloy. The alloy itself is 75% nickel, 25% iron, contains no sulphur and is very magnetic, quite dense, and widely disseminated. These characteristics are very favourable for bulk tonnage open pit mining, and because of the absence of sulphur, the production of a concentrate that could be sold directly to steel mills without incurring smelting charges could significantly enhance the economics of a mining operation at Decar.

Peter Bradshaw, President and CEO of First Point, commented "Cliffs brings to the project extensive development and operating expertise of large open pit mines. In particular, Cliffs' large metallurgical research lab and its operating experience with large scale magnetic separation can be directly applicable to the Decar project. We are very much looking forward to working with Cliffs on the Decar project."

Further information on this target type and maps of Decar are available on the Company's website at: http://www.firstpointminerals.com/i/pdf/Decar_Presentation.pdf.

Peter Bradshaw, Ph.D. is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the contents of this release.

First Point Minerals Corp. is a Canadian base and precious metal exploration company focused on the Americas.

FIRST POINT MINERALS CORP.