VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 20, 2011) - David H. Brett, President and CEO, Pacific Bay Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:PBM) (the "Company") reports that the Company has commenced diamond drilling at the Company's 100% optioned Haskins-Reed polymetallic property in the Cassiar Region of north-central British Columbia. The 1,500 metre program will initially target the Meteor Zone, where encouraging silver, lead, zinc, and gold grades were encountered during the Company's 2010 trenching program. The Meteor Zone is up to 24 metres wide on surface, has been traced for 300 metres, and is open along strike, as reported by the Company on October 19th, 2010 (available at www.pacificbayminerals.com).

Other exploration targets include proposed drilling on the B Zone, which was previously explored from surface and via over 5,000 feet of underground workings. Historic exploration work led to a non 43-101 compliant mineral resource of 407,000 tons, described as "developed," grading 1.82 opt Silver, 0.53% Copper, 2.77% Zinc, 0.47% lead and 0.24% bismuth, with an additional 1,510,000 tons Inferred resources at the same grade, but of much lower confidence. Management believes these historical resource estimates are useful for the Company's exploration programs, but advises investors that these estimates predate NI 43-101 guidelines. Therefore, these historical estimates should not be relied on by investors. A full discussion of historic exploration of the B Zone and several other mineralized zones on the Haskins-Reed property is available in an amended 43-101 report filed on www.sedar.com.

The Haskins-Reed property is Pacific Bay's most advanced exploration project with over 20,000 metres of drilling in over 200 drill holes. Recently, 198 surface and underground drill holes, totalling 18,230 metres, were digitally compiled by the Company and analysed with work carried out by Pacific Bay since 2008, including airborne geophysics, soil sampling, mapping and trenching results. On the basis of this compilation work, the Company believes that the property hosts good potential for large-scale, intrusive related polymetallic mineralization.

"We're excited to be accelerating work on our properties in the Cassiar area of British Columbia," said Pacific Bay CEO David H. Brett. "Pacific Bay's management has deep knowledge and experience in the Cassiar mining camp and believes the region has tremendous potential for new mineral discoveries and development."

The technical disclosures in this news release were reviewed and approved by Doug Blanchflower, P.Geo., a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Pacific Bay Minerals Ltd.

David H. Brett, MBA, President & CEO