TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2012 /CNW/ - Miocene Metals Limited (TSX-V: MII) (the "Company" or "Miocene Metals") today announced exploration results from its grassroots gold-base metal vein projects in south-western British Columbia. The summer 2011 work program, which included prospecting, rock, silt, and soil sampling on the Shulaps, Custer Ridge and Mount Barr properties, discovered new mineralization and generated specific targets for follow-up in 2012.

Highlights (full results are given below) are as follows:

Shulaps

- La Rochelle

Grab samples of float from massive, en-echelon quartz veins and massive, quartz-rich dykes up to 20 metres wide returned maximum values of 0.82% copper ("Cu"), 3.68 g/t gold ("Au"), 0.96% molybdenum ("Mo") and 1.655 g/t rhenium ("Re").

Custer Ridge

- Custer Ridge East

Maximum values of 0.873 g/t Au, 301 g/t Ag, 0.48% Cu, 0.93% Pb and 4.13% Zn were returned from grab samples taken from car-sized blocks of float mineralized by quartz-sulphide veins.

- Custer Ridge West

A sample of shattered hornblende diorite outcrop with porphyry-style alteration and disseminated chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite mineralization returned 721 ppm Cu and 1.21 g/t Au. The sample was taken in the headwaters of a stream, which yielded silt sample values of 1.205 g/t Au in 2011 and 2.32 g/t Au in 2010.

Mount Barr

- Mount Barr North

A Au-in-silt value of 0.093 g/t Au was returned from a stream draining a 600 x 2,000 metre east/west trending magnetic low with coincident, high radiometric signature; the same area returned 0.081 g/t Au from a silt sample collected in 2010.

- Mount Barr South

0.133 g/t Au was returned from a silt sample draining the intersection of north and north-northeast trending regional faults.

Commenting on the results Bruce Jago, President and CEO of Miocene Metals stated, "This is excellent progress as the majority of these properties, which cover the core of Tertiary-aged intrusions, have seen little focused exploration for porphyry-related mineralization in the past. In addition, all of these properties have reasonable access and are located remarkably close to power and transportation infrastructure. 2011 sampling results have provided a focus for exploration in 2012 with the goal of producing drill-ready targets. These outstanding results nicely complement results from our more advanced projects, Rogers Creek, MacKenzie and Salal and represent the next projects in Miocene's project pipeline."

Shulaps

The La Rochelle target is a 6 kilometre long by 1.4 kilometre wide north-west trending structural zone delineated by en-echelon quartz veins, massive quartz-rich dykes up to 20 metres wide and linear groupings of anomalous soil and grab samples. Veins, dykes and grab samples are mineralized by fracture-fillings, clots and blebs of chalcopyrite and molybdenite. The zone is located 6.2 kilometers along strike to the south-east of Anglo Canadian Mining Corporation's Rex Mountain or Zeus property, which hosts an historic, inferred resource of 189,453 tonnes grading 8.57 g/t Au and 0.92% Cu (British Columbia MinFile No 092JNE034) within structurally-controlled, sheeted quartz-sulphide veins. The La Rochelle trend is defined by 30 soil samples, which returned values from 24.5 to 766 ppm Cu, 0.011 to 0.267 ppm Au, 0.04 to 3.92 ppm Ag and 0.54 to 79.5 ppm Mo. Highlight samples from a total of 22 float and grab samples collected along the trend returned the following results:

Custer Ridge

Custer Ridge East was recognized in 2010 as prospective for strike-persistent, mesothermal base metal � Au-Ag mineralized quartz-sulphide veins as prospecting in the lower reaches of the host drainage discovered up to car-sized boulders of quartz-sulphide vein mineralization. Prospecting and sampling in 2011 discovered additional boulders further up-drainage that point to a 3.5 x 1 kilometre source area. Highlight samples of 15 grab samples collected in 2011 returned:

Custer Ridge West was highlighted in 2010 for follow-up on the basis of a silt sample in the lower reaches of a drainage that returned 2.32 g/t Au. Follow-up sampling in 2011 corroborated the anomalous nature of the drainage, with an anomalous silt sample in the lower reaches of the drainage returning 1.205 g/t Au. Prospecting up to the head of the drainage in 2011 discovered in-situ Au-Cu mineralization in altered, rusty weathering diorite. A grab sample from a shattered, altered and mineralized outcrop in the upper reaches of the drainage returned 1.201 g/t Au and 721 ppm Cu.

Mount Barr

Silt sampling in the eastern half of Mount Barr in 2010 highlighted a linear trend of five anomalous Au-in-silt samples distributed along a 10 kilometre long north-south trending zone. The linear zone is interpreted as fault-related on the basis of airborne magnetic surveys conducted in 2010 and 2011, and appears to part of a regional, roughly north-south trending fault swarm, with related splays, that hosts numerous gold and base metal occurrences within and parallel to the Fraser River Canyon.

Mount Barr North

Two areas were defined by silt sampling in 2011 for follow-up in 2012. At Mount Barr North, 10 silt samples from a 600 x 2,000 metre east/west trending magnetic low with a coincident, high radiometric signature returned values from 0.001 to 0.093 g/t Au and 40.6 to 109.5 ppm Cu; the same structure returned 0.081 g/t Au in a silt sample collected in 2010.

Mount Barr South

Five silt samples on Mount Barr South returned values from 0.001 to 0.133 g/t Au and 43.7 to 63.6 ppm Cu in drainages from the intersection of north and north-northeast trending regional faults as interpreted from airborne magnetic surveys.

Stream sediment and rock samples were collected by Miocene Metals personnel and delivered directly to ALS Chemex Ltd. Laboratories in Vancouver for preparation and analysis.

The grab sample assay results quoted above represent samples of mineralization collected from outcrop by Miocene Metals staff.  Grab samples are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property. In each case samples of mineralized outcrop weighing approximately 0.5 to 2 kg were collected using a rock hammer. Rock samples were crushed to 70% passing 2 mm, after which a split was taken with a riffle splitter and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns.  The samples were then analyzed for 48 elements using Chemex's ME-MS61 package, which is an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method utilising a near total four acid digestion. The samples were assayed for Au by standard lead collection/fire assay fusion (Au-ICP21) using a 30 gram pulp split and an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) finish.

Silt samples were screened to minus 200 microns, and analysed by the same techniques as described above for the rocks.

The Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release is Jose Sayo Garcia, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration of Miocene Metals.

About Miocene Metals Limited

Miocene Metals is focused on the exploration and development of seven porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum properties in south-western British Columbia that occur within the Tertiary-aged Cascade Magmatic Arc. The Cascade Arc shares many geological characteristics with Tertiary-age porphyry belts that stretch the length of Chile and Peru in South America and hosts some of the world's largest porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposits. The Cascade Magmatic Arc hosts a number of significant porphyry Cu-Au and Mo deposits in Washington State, and Alaska (Glacier Peak and Margaret, and Quartz Hill respectively) but remains largely unexplored in British Columbia.

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Please visit the Miocene Metal's website at www.miocenemetals.com, or contact:

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

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