Ms. Laura Sandilands reports

IBERIAN MINERALS REPORTS Q3 NET INCOME OF $123.6 MILLION

Iberian Minerals Corp. is releasing financial and operating results for the three- and nine-month periods ended Sept. 30, 2011, with comparative figures for the three- and nine-month periods ended Sept. 30, 2010. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes, and management discussion and analysis, may be found on SEDAR. Unless stated otherwise, all reported figures are in U.S. dollars. The company reported net income of $123.6-million for the third quarter of 2011, representing 27 cents per share.

Financial highlights

Three months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Recorded net income of $123.59-million or 27 cents per registered share;
• Sales of $60.11-million and gross loss of $24.09-million;
• A realized loss of $52.42-million on commodity hedges (included in sales) which caused the gross loss;
• An unrealized non-cash gain of $164.22-million on derivative financial instruments outstanding, partially as a result of commodity hedging positions in copper and zinc that were delivered into during the period, and were thus retired and partially due to a decline in metals prices impacting the fair value of outstanding hedge positions.
• Cash flow provided by operations before changes in working capital items was $1.49-million.

Nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Recorded net income of $201.55-million or 51 cents per registered share;
• Sales of $183.48-million and gross loss of $54.02-million;
• A realized loss of $171.03-million on commodity hedges (included in sales) which caused the gross loss;
• An unrealized non-cash gain of $292.66-million on derivative financial instruments outstanding, partially as a result of commodity hedging positions in copper and zinc that were delivered into during the period, and were thus retired and partially due to a decline in metals prices impacting the fair value of outstanding hedge positions.
• Cash flow provided by operations before changes in working capital items was $22.28-million.
• In June, 2011, the company completed a $76-million (Canadian) equity financing, which allowed for the buyout of Trafigura's 45.96-per-cent net profit interest (NPI) in Condestable (for 2011 to 2014) for $60-million. The buyout of the NPI was completed on June 30, 2011.

Operational highlights

CMC

Three months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Condestable mine processed copper ore at expected rates. The average copper ore grade was 1.05 per cent in 2011, versus 1.21 per cent in 2010.
• CMC processed 597,139 tonnes of ore in 2011, versus 564,541 tonnes of ore in 2010 (increase of 6 per cent).
• Copper concentrate production in 2011 was 24,551 dry metric tonnes, versus 24,544 dry metric tonnes in 2010 (no change versus prior year).
• Contained copper production in 2011 was 5,688 FMT, versus 6,088 FMT in the prior year (decrease of 6 per cent).
• The cash operating cost in 2011 was $1.19 per payable pound of copper produced, versus prior year of 99 cents.

Nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Condestable mine processed copper ore at expected rates. The average copper ore grade was 1.09 per cent in 2011, versus 1.16 per cent in 2010.
• CMC processed 1,769,167 tonnes of ore in 2011, versus 1,666,932 tonnes of ore in 2010 (increase of 6 per cent).
• Copper concentrate production in 2011 was 72,428 dry metric tonnes, versus 68,840 dry metric tonnes in 2010 (increase of 5 per cent).
• Contained copper production in 2011 was 17,387 FMT, versus 17,252 FMT in the prior year (increase of 1 per cent).
• The cash operating cost in 2011 was $1.12 per payable pound of copper produced, versus prior year of $1.02. For the current year, this is below the 2011 guidance of $1.15 per payable pound of copper.

Other:

• In May, 2011, CMC completed an amendment to its senior debt facility, and increased the principal to $60-million and extended the term by six months (to September, 2013).
• Major project works were completed on the previously announced 10-per-cent processing plant expansion. The processing plant reached 6,600 tonnes per day of ore processed in June, 2011.

Operational highlights

Matsa

Three months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Matsa processed 518,682 tonnes of ores in 2011, versus 460,999 tonnes of ores in 2010 (increase of 12 per cent).
• It produced 28,707 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate (2010, 26,754 dry metric tonnes), 18,260 dry metric tonnes of zinc concentrate (2010, 5,968 dry metric tonnes) and 7,280 dry metric tonnes of lead concentrate (2010, nil). Contained metal production was 6,638 FMT of copper (2010, 5,767 FMT), 8,632 FMT of zinc (2010, 2,834 FMT), 1,217 FMT of lead (2010, nil) and 235,549 ounces of silver (2010, 181,978 ounces).
• The cash operating cost was $1.56 per payable pound of copper produced (2010, $2.06 per payable pound of copper produced). For the current year, this is below the 2011 guidance of $1.75 per payable pound of copper produced.

Nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011:

• Matsa processed 1,499,209 tonnes of ores in 2011, versus 1,200,355 tonnes of ores in 2010 (increase of 25 per cent). The copper ore head grade was 2.20 per cent (2010, 1.83 per cent).
• It produced 84,064 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate (2010, 66,817 dry metric tonnes), 50,893 dry metric tonnes of zinc concentrate (2010, 21,645 dry metric tonnes) and 23,525 dry metric tonnes of lead concentrate (2010, nil). Contained metal production was 18,916 FMT of copper (2010, 15,399 FMT), 24,390 FMT of zinc (2010, 10,400 FMT), 4,216 FMT of lead (2010, nil) and 725,101 ounces of silver (2010, 516,488 ounces).
• The cash operating cost was $1.67 per payable pound of copper produced (2010, $2.24 per payable pound of copper produced). For the current year, this is below the 2011 guidance of $1.75 per payable pound of copper produced.

Other:

• In May, 2011, Matsa was awarded the exploration concessions by the local authorities for the Sotiel property. The Sotiel mine, which forms part of the concessions, was a past-producing mine and is located approximately 30 kilometres from the Aguas Tenidas operation.

Outlook

Operations

The company updates previously issued production guidance for 2011:

• At Condestable, due to a decreased copper ore grade in recent months, it is expected that produced metal will be as follows 22,500 FMT copper, 13,000 F ounces gold and 289,300 F ounces silver. The cash operating cost per pound of payable copper produced is expected to be $1.15.
• The production guidance for Aguas Tenidas remains 25,000 FMT copper, 33,900 FMT zinc, 3,700 FMT lead and 730,000 F ounces silver. The cash operating cost per pound of payable copper produced is expected to be $1.75.
• The labour contract negotiations continuing at Matsa are progressing in a positive fashion. The most recent contract expired on Dec. 31, 2010. The company remains hopeful that a new collective labour agreement will be reached in the coming weeks.

Development

The company continues activities relating to the study of a possible rehabilitation and restart of the Sotiel mine, together with a related expansion study for the operations at Aguas Tenidas. A budget for this work program of approximately $20-million was approved by the board of directors in June, 2011, and is expected to be spent over the remainder of 2011 and early 2012. The company could make a construction decision by the end of 2011.

                   SUMMARIZED FINANCIAL RESULTS
        (in thousands of U.S. dollars, except per-share amounts)

                                   Three months ended     Nine months ended 
                                             Sept. 30,             Sept. 30, 
                                      2011       2010       2011       2010 

Sales                            $  60,110  $  57,482  $ 183,482  $ 164,976 
Costs and expenses of mining                                                
operations                          84,196     71,966    237,499    223,574 
                                 ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Gross (loss)                       (24,086)   (14,484)   (54,017)   (58,598)
Expenses                                                                    
Administrative expenses and                                                 
other                                1,876      1,066      4,947      3,281 
Exploration and evaluation                                                  
expenditures                         4,816          -      4,816          - 
Foreign exchange gain               (4,770)      (177)    (1,607)    (6,394)
Contingent consideration fair                                               
value                                    -      9,442          -      5,233 
Unrealized (gain) loss on                                                   
derivative instruments            (164,216)    97,862   (292,656)   (21,093)
                                 ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total expenses (other income)     (162,294)   108,193   (284,500)   (18,973)
Operating income (loss)            138,208   (122,677)   230,483    (39,625)
Net finance (income) costs          (4,490)     5,897      3,783      4,786 
                                 ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Income (loss) before taxation      142,698   (128,574)   226,700    (44,411)
Current income tax expense                                                  
(recovery)                            (931)     2,933        150      5,611 
Future income tax expense                                                   
(recovery)                          20,042    (29,112)    25,003      3,796 
                                 ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Net income (loss)                $ 123,587  $(102,395) $ 201,547  $ (53,818)
                                 ========== ========== ========== ==========
Basic earnings (loss) per share  $    0.27  $   (0.30) $    0.51  $   (0.16)
Diluted earnings (loss) per 
share                            $    0.26  $   (0.30) $    0.48  $   (0.16)

We seek Safe Harbor.