St. Elias Mines Ltd.; Stage 2 of Titan 24 Geophysical Survey and Interpretation Successfully Completed at Tesoro Gold Project in Peru

Sep 16, 2010 (TheNewswire.ca via COMTEX) -- (via Thenewswire.ca)

Vancouver, B.C. September 16, 2010 Lori McClenahan, President, St. Elias Mines Ltd. () ("St. Elias" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that the Company has received the final Geophysical Survey Interpretation Report from Quantec Geoscience Limited ("Quantec") with respect to the recent Stage 2 Titan 24 survey conducted at the Tesoro Gold Project (the "Property") in Peru. The survey has successfully identified at least 19 first priority geophysical anomalies with potential for gold mineralization from near surface to >400 meters depth and 26 zones which are classified as second priority targets for follow up. These zones are interpreted to be related to, and/or the extension of, previously discovered mineralized zones in the Property.

Quantec, a leading global provider of geoscience solutions, performed a Titan 24 Direct Current Resistivity (DC), Induced Polarization (IP) and Audio Magnetotelluric (AMT or MT) survey over the Tesoro Project located in southwestern Peru in the province of Arequipa.

The Titan 24 Survey on the Property was conducted in two stages. During the fall of 2009, Quantec conducted Stage 1 of the survey which consisted of nine lines covering approximately 21.6 line kilometres over the project area. Stage 2 of the survey, designed to follow-up the results of the 2009 Stage 1 survey, was conducted in spring of 2010 and comprised 18 Titan lines totalling 43.2 line kilometres infilling the area within the lines from the Stage 1 survey.

The completion of the Stage 2 program has resulted in the entire Tesoro Project being covered by Titan 24 survey and provide detailed information for drilling and follow up 3D geological modelling.

Titan 24 Survey Objective

The exploration objective at the Tesoro Project was to map DC, MT resistivity and IP chargeability anomalies and to delineate target zones potentially related to mesothermal gold mineralization and alteration zones from surface to approximately 1,500 metres depth.

Titan 24 Survey Results

The Titan 24 Geophysical Survey at the Tesoro Project has successfully identified at least 19 first priority geophysical anomalies with potential for gold mineralization from near surface to >400 meter depth. Most of the first priority targets are situated along or in the vicinity of the northwest-southeast structural trends in the central part of the survey grid, the "Tesoro Structural Corridor". These anomalies are primarily associated with areas of intercepts of interpreted various lineaments. The lineaments' orientations may represent several geological and structural events relevant to a mesothermal model and gold mineralization.

A total of 26 anomalous zones are classified as second priority targets for follow up at the Tesoro Project. These zones are moderate-to-limited area responses and are of moderate-to-strong chargeability.

The survey was successful in resolving at least 10 anomalies related to known mesothermal mineralization at Tesoro, particularly within the "Tesoro Structural Corridor". These zones are identified as "Zona Canchete", "Zona Central", "Zona Sur", "Zona Incognito" and "Zona Este". Generally, there is a direct correlation of the interpreted major and secondary lineaments with the interpreted anomalies over the known mineral zones.

In addition to the shallower DC-IP and MT anomalies, the MT inversion models indicate the presence of various deep MT resistivity low and gradient/structural zones that extend to depth from approximately 500 metres to >1,000 metres. The interpreted deep MT anomalies located below and in the vicinity of the target zones (first, second and tested zones) suggests potential for mineralization and/or alteration at depth. These deep responses are possibly geologically and structurally controlled.

Drilling

Quantec, through detailed analysis of their Titan 24 data, has recommended a total of 52 drill holes to test the first and second priority targets interpreted in the property. Of them, 26 drill holes are recommended to test the first priority anomalous zones and 26 drill holes are proposed to test the second priority target zones.

Titan 24 Geophysical Survey

Over the past 20 years, Quantec has completed in excess of 3,000 geophysical projects worldwide including over 400 Titan 24 surveys. Titan 24 is the leading deep earth imaging technology for delineating ore bodies to depth. While deep drilling can be expensive, Titan 24 focuses drilling and achieves success by clearly prioritizing targets. With the depth achieved, Titan 24 is a highly cost effective means to not only unlocking, but realizing a property's full value.

Tesoro Gold Project

The Tesoro Gold Project is 100% owned by the Company with no underlying royalties. The Property covers approximately 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) and is part of the prolific 300km X 30km Nazca-Ocona gold belt parallel to the Pacific coast of southwestern Peru. The Nazca-Ocona gold belt has a long mining history dating back to pre-Incan time. Gold is associated with disseminated sulphides that seeped into quartz veins and fractures within the intrusive body. The continuity of the quartz veins and fractures is very impressive in the Nazca-Ocona belt. While the veins tend to be narrow, the grade is significant and the mineralized structures tend to extend along strike for several kilometers and to depths of up to 1,000 meters