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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 28, 2011) - Strike Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:STK) ("Strike" or the "Company"), announces that it will proceed with dewatering the Edwards Mine decline on its property in the Wawa area of Ontario. The dewatering will allow the Company to conduct underground exploration and drilling on the known gold mineralized zones to establish a mineral resource prior to production.


The mine was in production until 2001 and ceased operation due the decline in the gold price to below $300/oz. While in production the mine produced a total of 144,000 oz of gold from 370,000 tons for an average grade of 0.39 oz/t. Development underground was on a number of different levels between 30m and the final decline depth of 291m. Subsequently the ramp and underground workings were allowed to fill with water. The company also had appropriate surface facilities such as settling ponds and waste dumps for full operation. A 40 man camp is also on site and the Company is undertaking refurbishment to provide adequate housing facilities for the dewatering program. The Company has been working with the Ministry of Mines to re-activate all the permits necessary to proceed with the dewatering and underground refurbishment.


Mike Newbury President and CEO of Strike comments "Strike has a unique opportunity to conduct underground exploration on the identified gold mineralized zones that can provide significantly more information than surface drilling at similar cost . The dewatering will provide direct underground access at a significantly lower investment than would be required to excavate a new decline."


Strike has executed a contract with P.J. Whelan Mining Contractors to conduct the actual dewatering. Whalen has considerable experience in this type of work on a number of other mining operations McGarry Project for Armistice Resources Corporation and Mcfinley Mine dewatering. The dewatering will include refurbishment of the ramp. Dewatering is expected to take approximately four to six months.


The dewatering program will allow the Company to conduct underground exploration new mineralized zones that have been delineated by in excess of 35,000 ft of drilling subsequent to the cessation of operations. The mineralization at Edwards is a typical Greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein deposit that occurs as quartz and quartz-carbonate veins, with valuable amounts of gold and silver, in faults and shear zones located within deformed zones of ancient to recent greenstone belts. The Abitibi greenstone belt contains the majority of the productive districts, including the very large Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Larder Lake, Rouyn-Noranda, and Val d'Or districts. The mineralized zones of most interest on the property are auriferous quartz veins located in tension shears/fractures oblique to the Edwards/Cline shear zone. Historically, auriferous quartz veins at Edwards are grey-white to blue-grey in colour, with individual veins ranging from several inches in width to ten feet or more, generally averaging one to two feet. They have sometimes occurred in multiple sets with significant overall width, especially when found in Quartz Porphyry units, which tend to provide more conduits due to their brittle fracturing under stress. The quartz veins generally exhibit 1 to 3% pyrite/pyrrhotite, occasionally with minor amounts of chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena. Fine, free and frequently visible gold has been present in the majority of drill core intersections from all drill programs on the property since 1988. The visible gold is seen as discrete specks and grains, often as clouds or clusters, and sometimes amounts to 1% or more of the quartz vein inclusions.


Strike is also in the process of digitizing all the available historical drilling and underground information to create an accurate 3-D picture of the mineralized zones to assist in formulation the next stage of exploration on the property. It is expected that this work will include underground drifting to cut the identified mineral zones and underground drilling to delineate resources.



About Strike



Strike Minerals is a TSX-V listed company that is engaged in the exploration and development of precious metal properties in Canada. Its primary property is the former producing Edwards Gold Mine property in the Goudreau - Lochalsh Gold Camp near Wawa Ont. Historic production in the camp between 1930 and 2001 is estimated at 500,000 ounces of gold. Between 1996 and 2001 underground development was completed through a decline to a depth of approximately 290 m resulting in 145,000 oz Au being mined from the Edwards property. More recent exploration of the property has delineated an additional number of mineralized zones that require follow-up.


Strike also has a 100% interest in a large (approximately 35 km2) area of staked claims and patented mining claims near Schreiber, Ontario. This ground includes 3 past producing gold mines (Morley Mine, Harkness Hayes and Golden Range). Gold first discovered in the area around 1898 and production undertaken in 1920's and 30's. The claims adjoin the Afric Zone that had a significant historical resource that was established by Noranda and Cypress Amax in the 1990's seeking large tonnage bulk mineable deposits. The property has a large number of mineralized occurrences that require exploration and sampling to determine their potential.


All technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mike Newbury, P.Eng. who is a Qualified Person ("QP") under National Instrument 43-101.



Forward-Looking Statements



Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Strike, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates and that the resource potential will be achieved on exploration projects, currency fluctuations, dependence upon regulatory approvals, and the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. There is no assurance that the company's exploration projects will add to Strike's resource base in the short-term, or at all. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.




FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Michael Newbury
Strike Minerals Inc.
(416) 417-7907
[email protected]