Dec. 6, 2010 (Canada NewsWire Group) --

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CALGARY, Dec. 6 /CNW/ - Celtic Minerals Ltd. (the "Corporation" or "Celtic"), provides updates to its previously disclosed historical resource estimates arising from a review of the Corporation's previous continuous disclosure.

Technical Report

The Corporation is pleased to announce that it is in receipt of an independent technical report (the "Technical Report"), prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), relating to the Great Burnt Lake Property, Newfoundland, Canada (the "Great Burnt Lake Property") prepared by Mercator Geological Services Limited ("Mercator") and dated July 26, 2010. The Technical Report was filed concurrently with this press release and is available for viewing under the Corporation's profile at www.sedar.com.

The Great Burnt Lake Property is located in south-central Newfoundland, about 75 kilometres northnorthwest of the village of St. Alban's, east of Great Burnt Lake within NTS Map Sheet 12A/08 and centred at about 563,513 mE and 5,358,966 mN UTM (NAD27 Projection, Zone 21). Access to most of the southern licence can be gained from St. Alban's on an all weather gravel road maintained by Newfoundland Hydro. A locked gate limits access north of the North Salmon Dam at Great Burnt Lake and permission is obtained from the local Hydro office in St. Alban's. Access to the northern licences is limited to ATV trails, helicopter and float plane.

The Great Burnt Lake Property consists of 234 contiguous unpatented claims covering 58.5 square kilometres in seven mineral licences.

The Great Burnt Lake Property has an extensive exploration history and this work confirms the presence of volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") style base metal and/or gold mineralization, and that the region contains a number of exploration targets for gold and base metal mineralization.

Work by the Corporation has included geological mapping, airborne electromagnetic ("EM"), ground based EM, induced polarization and magnetometer surveys, soil geochemistry surveys and diamond drilling since 1999. This work and the work of others show that the VMS deposits occur within mafic volcano-sedimentary lithologies of the Cold Spring Pond Formation of the Baie d'Espoir Group. Sulphide mineralization is in the form of pyrrhotite-rich bands, net-textured fabrics and massive zones with associated chalcopyrite and minor locally associated sphalerite and gold.

The presence of two small zones of mineralization and numerous showings of sulphides in drill core and outcrop of the volcano-sedimentary stratigraphy between and beyond the known deposits indicate that hydrothermal activity accompanied the volcanism and the whole of the volcanic belt should be considered as prospective.

The Technical Report was prepared by Peter Webster, P.Geo. and Isobel Wolfson, P.Geo. of Mercator on behalf of the Corporation. Peter Webster is an independent qualified person and is responsible for all items in the Technical Report. Isobel Wolfson is a qualified person who is not independent from the Corporation as the majority of Ms. Wolfson's income is derived from her engagement as a consultant of the Corporation.

Updates to Previously Disclosed Historical Resource Estimates

Great Burnt Lake - Historical Resource Estimate

The Great Burnt Lake - South Pond property is located in Central Newfoundland (NTS 12A/08), 75 km northwest of the community of St. Albans. The property consists of 7 licenses which are comprised of 234 claims, totalling 58.5 km2. The Great Burnt Lake Property consists of the Great Burnt Lake Deposit and the South Pond Deposit.

Great Burnt Lake Deposit

The Great Burnt Lake Deposit has a historical reserve estimate of 761,499 short tons grading 2.55% copper, which is derived from a 1979 internal report for the Price Company Ltd. of Bathurst, New Brunswick (Report on the re-evaluation of the Great Burnt Copper Deposit, by D.E. McBride) (the "Price Company Report"). The author defined the historical reserve estimate as a "geological ore reserve" of "proven and possible ore". The Price Company Report did not provide a breakdown between proven and possible ore. The estimate was based on a longitudinal section of the deposit in which the mineralized zones were split into 10, 200 - foot long blocks. The author made five assumptions in the course of his calculations:

The next most recent historical estimate for the Great Burnt Lake Deposit is from an unpublished report on the reserves of the Great Burnt & South Pond Deposits prepared in 1974 by ASARCO (Buchans Unit), which was a preliminary and limited investigation of the feasibility of developing and operating the Great Burnt Lake and South Pond Deposits (the "ASARCO Report"). The ASARCO Report summarized possible mining, scheduling, milling and copper price scenarios. A historical and unsourced "reserve" of 862,800 short tons grading 2.85% copper was reported. The author of the ASARCO Report assumed that 80% of the reported material was recoverable and that mining dilution could be kept at or below 15%, which produced a "reserve" of 800,0000 short tons at 2.48% copper. No other description of estimation methods or assumptions were reported.

South Pond Deposit

The South Pond Deposit has a historical reserve estimate of 240,000 short tons grading 1.07% copper, which is derived from the ASARCO Report. In the ASARCO Report, a historical and unsourced "reserve" of 250,000 short tons grading 1.23% copper was noted. The author assumed that 80% of the reported material was recoverable and that mining dilution could be kept at or below 15%, which produced a "reserve" of 240,000 short tons at 1.07%. No description of estimation methods or assumptions were reported.

The next most recent historical estimate for the South Pond Deposit is from an internal report for the British Newfoundland Exploration Ltd. or Brinex (Great Burnt Copper Prospect, Newfoundland; 1972 by A. P. Beavan) (the "Brinex Report"), in which the average grade and total tonnage were calculated using polygons of influence around eleven diamond drill intersections on 6 cross sections at 300-foot centres. The resultant "reserve indicated by drilling" was 323,000 short tons at 1.33% copper. No other description or estimation methods or assumptions were reported.

Dawson Project- Historical Resource Estimate

Mineral resource estimates were carried out by US Borax, A.C.A. Howe and Uranerz U.S.A., Inc. ("Uranerz") over a period of about 6 years (1985-1991). The Dawson Project consists of the Dawson Segment and the Windy Gulch Segment.

A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the Dawson Project historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. In addition, the Corporation is not treating such historical estimates as current mineral resources or minerals reserves as defined in sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101 and the historical estimates should not be relied upon.

The technical contents below with respect to the Dawson Project were reviewed but were not verified by Ms. Isobel Wolfson, P, Geo, a qualified person who is not independent from the Corporation as the majority of Ms. Wolfson's income is derived from her engagement as a consultant of the Corporation. Ms. Wolfson is a geoscientist with over 20 years of experience as an underground mine geologist in volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") style base metal deposits. She has participated in numerous mineral resource estimates and is familiar with both the information required and the processes used to produce a mineral resource estimate, both in Canada (using NI 43-101) and Australia (using the JORC Code).

The Dawson Segment

The most recent resource estimations for the Dawson Segment were completed in 1991 and 1992. The following estimation method is taken from the 1991 Annual Report of Uranerz U.S.A., Inc. by C. Mettler (1991 Annual Report; Project 7355: Dawson. Uranerz USA Inc. Report, 1992) (the "Uranerz Report").

For the Dawson Segment, resources were calculated using a method whereby the influence around diamond drill intersections was calculated by the inverse distance squared method ("IDS") on longitudinal sections oriented parallel to mineralized zones constrained by geological and geochemical boundaries. Each longitudinal section was subdivided into square 25' x 25' (625 square feet) cells.

Where there was more than one gold assay for a sample interval, the assays were averaged. Gold assays were uncut. All gold values below 0.007 ounces per short ton ("opt") were set to 0.001 opt. Intervals not sampled but identified within the mineralized zones were given a blank gold value.

Gold grades were composited within sample intervals to give a weighted average gold grade. The true thickness ("T") of each zone in drill core was calculated by multiplying the sine of the average foliation angle of the sample intervals by the entire sample length. The average grade was multiplied by the true thickness to produce a "grade-thickness" ("GT") value for each composited interval.

Using a search radius of 125 feet, up to 5 GT values were used to calculate an average GT and T (true thickness) for each cell. Those blocks with GT values ≥ 1.0 were used in the resource calculations.

An average tonnage factor of 12.4 cubic feet per short ton (equivalent to a specific gravity of 2.58) was used; this was based on specific gravity tests on eight "representative samples".

For each mineralized zone, the total of the number of cells above the "cutoff" (GT values ≥ 1.0) was divided by 625 square feet (cell area) to give an area of the zone. The average true thickness was the sum of the T divided by the total number of cells. The volume of the zone was calculated as the area multiplied by the average thickness. The tonnage of the zone was calculated by dividing the volume by the tonnage factor. The average gold grade for each zone was calculated by the sum of GT divided by the sum of T.

The minimum required thickness of each zone was 5 feet. If the zone was less than 5 feet, it was diluted with material at zero gold grade and 2.58 specific gravity to produce a zone with a thickness of 5 feet.

Mineralization in the Dawson Segment consists of 3 main zones; a fourth zone was only intersected by 2 drill holes and was not included in the resource. Based on the Uranerz Report, the Dawson Segment contains a "gold resource" of 263,000 short tons at a diluted (to 5 feet minimum thickness) grade of 0.460 ounces gold per short ton (opt). with an average thickness of 6.6 feet.

Uranerz contracted American Mine Services, Inc. ("AMSE") to conduct a preliminary feasibility study of the property, specifically the zones in the Dawson Segment (Pre-feasibility Study of the Dawson Project. Cañon City, Colorado. American Mine Services, Inc. February 15, 1991) (the "ASME Report"). Using the resource estimates and geological interpretation supplied by Uranerz, AMSE added 1 foot of waste rock at zero grade to both the hangingwall and footwall of the original 5- foot minimum width to reflect actual recoveries during mining; 3 blocks were removed from the zones because they were considered too deep and too small to justify development costs.

After inspection of the drill core, ASME assumed ground conditions to be fair, requiring routine rockbolting with the occasional steel sets and shotcreting. Mine water inflow was assumed to be 500 US gallons per minute. Under ASME's direction, a metallurgical test program was completed by Hazen Research in Denver. ASME based their reserve estimations on a cut-and-fill mining method with cemented fill providing ground support; no pillars or sill pillars were contemplated. AMSE calculated a "diluted mineable reserve" of 397,069 short tons grading 0.308 ounces per short ton gold. No other description of estimation methods or assumptions were reported.

The historical estimates of "gold resource" and "diluted mineable reserve" are categories other than the ones set out in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101. Such categories cannot be compared to current mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101 as there have been no work to verify and classify such historical estimates. The historical estimates are not compliant with NI 43-101 and should therefore not be relied upon.

The Windy Gulch Segment

The Windy Gulch Segment contains 3 areas of gold mineralization. Calculations on the "best defined" area indicated a "preliminary gold resource" of 33,600 short tons at 0.405 ounces per short ton gold, with an average true thickness of 8.7 feet. The block was defined by 6 surface diamond drill holes, 3 underground drill holes and several surface channel samples. These figures are taken from Uranerz's 1990 annual report by C. Mettler (1990 Annual Report; Project 7355: Dawson. Uranerz USA Inc., March 1991 (the "Uranerz 2 Report"). No description of estimation methods or assumptions were reported.

Historical Estimate Categories

The historical estimates of (i) "geological ore reserves" of "proven and possible ore" used in the Price Company Report with respect to the Great Burnt Lake Deposit; (ii) "reserves" used in the ASARCO Report with respect to the Great Burnt Lake Deposit and the South Pond Deposit; (iii) "reserve indicated by drilling" used in the Brinex Report with respect to the South Pond Deposit; (iv) "gold resource" used in the Uranerz Report and "diluted mineable reserve" used in the ASME Report with respect to the Dawson Segment; and (v) "preliminary gold resource" used in the Uranerz 2 Report are categories other than the ones set out in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101. Such categories cannot be compared to current mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101 as there has been no work to verify and classify such historical estimates. The historical estimates are not compliant with NI 43-101 and should therefore not be relied upon.

Advisories

The above estimates are historic in nature and were compiled before National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") came into effect. The resource and reserve estimates have not been verified by an independent "Qualified Person" and are presented for information purposes only. They are not compliant with NI 43-101 and should not be relied upon. Moreover, work required to verify and classify the historical resource and reserve estimates as current mineral resources or minerals reserves in accordance with NI 43-101 has not been carried out by the Corporation and the Corporation is not treating these estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101. Finally, the Corporation does not make any representation or warranties as to the accuracy of the historical resource or reserve estimates.

Ms. Isobel Wolfson, P, Geo is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed the technical information reported in the news release for accuracy.

Change of Head Office

The Corporation has also changed its head office to:

20 High Street, Suite 201
Grand Falls - Windsor, Newfoundland A2A 1C6
Telephone: (709) 489-6480
Fax: (709) 489-7092

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements or information ("forward-looking statements"). Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Corporation cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause events and achievements to differ materially from the results expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve significant known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may cause the Corporation's actual results, event, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, unless otherwise required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the release.

Barry Greene, Vice President
Celtic Minerals Ltd.
Phone: (709) 489-6480
Fax: (709) 489-7092
Email: [email protected]