Acadian Mining obtains Environmental Assessment Approval for Tangier Gold Property

	    Trading Symbol: ADA:TSX; C2Z-Frankfurt
	    Shares Outstanding: 491,691,616

	    HALIFAX, Dec. 21 /CNW/ - Acadian Mining Corporation (TSX: ADA) ("Acadian"
or the "Company") announced that the Honourable Minister Sterling Belliveau,
Minister, Nova Scotia Environment, has approved the transfer to Acadian of the
Environmental Assessment Approval (EA) dated March 21, 1997 from Tangier
Limited Partnership for the Blueberry Hill Mine on Acadian's 100% owned
Tangier Gold Property. The EA provides for the operation of a 400 tpd
underground gold mine and processing facility. The final permitting
requirement prior to commencing operations is the receipt of an Industrial
Approval (IA), which details the daily operational aspects of the project and
the engineering requirements to meet the conditions of the environmental
assessment. Receipt of an IA typically takes two to four months following
submission of the application and supporting documentation. Prior to
proceeding with the application for an IA, Acadian plans to undertake
additional surface diamond drilling with the objective of boosting resources.
Current resources (cut) are 42,000 ounces gold (134,000 tonnes grading 9.67
g/t gold) in the indicated category and 105,000 ounces gold (271,000 tonnes
grading 12.08 g/t gold) in the inferred category, all of which occur at
shallow depths (230 m or less).
	    The bulk of these resources occur immediately east of the Copper Lake
fault and are readily accessible through the existing underground development,
including the existing ramp to a vertical depth of 145 m and approximately
5,000m of existing underground development. Surface drill results, including
an interval of 1.4 m grading 26.57 g/t gold at a vertical depth of only 40 m,
(news release Nov. 1, 2006) confirm the continuation of gold mineralization
west of the Copper Lake fault, a structure which forms the western limit to
the underground development. This area will be a priority target in the 2010
proposed drill program and is particularly attractive from the perspective of
ready access from the current underground development.
	    The Tangier Gold Property is situated on a tightly folded, domal,
anticlinal structure which is host to approximately 70 gold bearing quartz
veins over a width of approximately 200 metres. The Tangier anticline has been
traced for approximately 7.3 kilometres on the property. The gold bearing
veins are proven to be consistent over strike lengths exceeding 2.5 kilometres
as well as down dip. Earlier exploration efforts focused primarily on three
veins in the Blueberry Hill area, the Marker, Whin and Twin Veins, and various
veins in the Strawberry hill area, 3.2 kilometres to the east. Minimal
exploration was conducted in the intervening 2 kilometres.

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	    Management's Opinion
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	    Will Felderhof, President and CEO, stated, "Obtaining an Environmental
Assessment Approval is a major milestone in the development of any gold
project and Tangier is no exception. Given the extensive underground
development already in place, the project can be brought into production very
quickly. The focus now will be to further boost resources, for which we view
the potential as high, given the favourable results to date, the large
property size, the large number of gold bearing veins, the shallow depths of
historic mining and the limited drilling undertaken on the property thus far."

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	    Other
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	    Terence F. Coughlan, P. Geo., is a qualified person as defined by
National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed the technical information reported
in this news release for accuracy.

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	    About Acadian
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	    Acadian is a Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada based mining company with five
advanced gold projects, all of which host National Instrument 43-101 compliant
resources. The Company also owns a zinc-lead mine (Scotia Mine) at Gays River,
Nova Scotia, which is currently on care and maintenance. Acadian is actively
exploring and developing its gold, zinc-lead, and barite properties in
Atlantic Canada. Acadian holds a 29.18% interest in Royal Roads Corp.
(RRO-TSX-V), which is actively exploring in Newfoundland and Labrador with a
current focus on the historic Buchans Camp.

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	    Forward Looking Statement
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	    Certain information regarding Acadian contained herein may constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations,
opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not
statements of fact. Although Acadian believes that the expectations reflected
in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance
that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Acadian cautions that
actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, many of which are
beyond Acadian's control, and that future events and results may vary
substantially from what Acadian currently foresees. Discussion of the various
factors that may affect future results is contained in Acadian's Annual
Information Form dated March 31, 2009, which is available at www.sedar.com.
Acadian's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety
by this cautionary statement.

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	    Additional Information
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	    For additional information on Acadian's properties and activities, please
visit our web site at www.acadianmining.com.

	    No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the contents of this
release.