St. Elias Mines Ltd. Completes Independent 43-101 Technical Report on the Tesoro Gold Project, Peru

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct 21, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Lori McClenahan, President of St. Elias Mines Ltd. /quotes/comstock/11v!e:sli (CA:SLI 1.84, -0.04, -2.13%) (frankfurt:EKL) (us clearing symbol:SELSF) ("St. Elias" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that the Company has completed an Independent 43-101 Technical Report on the Tesoro Gold Project (the "Property") located in southwestern Peru. The Report, dated September 30, 2010 written by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., has been filed on SEDAR and will be available for viewing shortly by visiting www.sedar.com.

The 43-101 Report

In June 2010, Paul D. Gray Geological Consultants were commissioned to author an independent technical compilation, review and update report (the "Report") on the Tesoro Property. On June 6 - 8, 2010, Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., conducted a site visit and Property inspection of the Tesoro Property (verification assays returned grades up to 231.12 g/t or 6.74 oz/t gold.)

The Report updates the previous 43-101 Technical Report completed on the Property (dated Feb. 2008 written by John Brophy, P.Geo.,) and incorporates the results from exploration work conducted during Feb. 2008 to date including the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Titan 24 Geophysical Surveys. The Titan 24 Surveys have outlined high priority geophysical targets (both near surface and to depth) which warrant follow-up systematic exploration. A full discussion of the Quantec data and analysis is supplied in the Report within Appendix V. The compilation work has allowed a Property-wide re-evaluation of known geochemical signatures and, with the recent addition of detailed Titan 24 Geophysical data, this compilation has become a valuable tool for St. Elias' exploration planning and execution.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In the Report, Mr. Gray states, "The research, site visit, Property inspection and data compilation conducted with respect to this Report, have lead the author to the conclusion that the Tesoro Property represents a solid gold exploration target that warrants a systematic and phased series of mineral exploration programs to adequately appraise the Project's economic potential."

With the completion of the 2009-2010 Quantec Titan 24 geophysical surveys and subsequent interpretation of these data, several high priority anomalies have been identified which require follow-up by detailed systematic mineral exploration methods including trenching and diamond drilling. The author recommends a staggered series of exploration work programs designed to achieve the following exploration objectives:

--  re-processing (3D Geological model) of the Quantec Titan-24
    geophysical data to guide all surface and sub-surface exploration on
    the Property;


--  detailed geological control (outcrop mapping) of entire Property by
    prospecting and GPS surveys;


--  systematic sampling of all quartz vein exposures defined from the
    above;


--  "on the ground" follow-up and surface sampling of all high-priority
    geophysical anomalies;


--  systematic trenching and open cut exploration and sampling of
    anomalies generated from above, with particular attention on the newly
    discovered North Corridor;


--  diamond drilling (24 drillholes totalling approximately 10,000 metres)
    designed to test the near surface and deeper seated geophysical
    anomalies identified by the Titan 24 Geophysical Surveys.

Aproposed budget of $2,500,000 has been outlined for this entire exploration campaign. The exploration programs (and budgets), are designed to test the Tesoro Property's gold mineralization potential and will yield enough information to guide subsequent mineral exploration and development programs on the Property.

Tesoro Gold Project, Peru

The Tesoro Gold Project, consisting of nine mineral claims covering 17,436 acres, is located in the Department of Arequipa in the District of Acari in southwestern Peru. The Property is 100% owned by the Company with no underlying royalties.

The Property lies within the well-known 300 km X 30 km Nazca-Ocona gold belt adjacent to and paralleling the Pacific coast of southwestern Peru. The Nazca-Ocona gold belt has a long mining history dating back to pre-Incan time with more than 70 gold (+/- copper) deposits have been discovered and exploited since the 17th century, most of which are quartz-vein hosted gold deposits.

The Tesoro Property can be defined as an advanced stage gold exploration target that hosts several historic gold showings and gold workings. The style of mineralization represents a mesothermal vein exploration target. To date, mesothermal-vein style gold mineralization has been identified superficially and to depths of over 100 metres.

The Tesoro Property has never been evaluated to depth, or to its full strike potential. This leaves a large potential for the discovery of additional mineralization.

Qualified Person

All technical work is being supervised by, and the contents of this news release have been verified by, Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., who is a "qualified person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada) or contact:

ST. ELIAS MINES LTD.

(signed "Lori McClenahan")

Lori McClenahan, President

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this document.

This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statement