Mr. Bruce McLeod reports

MERCATOR MINERALS PROVIDES A FIVE-YEAR OPERATING FORECAST FOR ITS MINERAL PARK MINE

Mercator Minerals Ltd. has provided, following the completion of the phase II expansion project, a five-year operating forecast for its wholly owned Mineral Park mine in Arizona.

Highlights of forecast:

• Mill throughput increases from an average of 50,000 tons per day to 52,500 tons per day commencing in July, 2012, to 55,000 tons per day in 2013;
• Copper production to average approximately 51 million pounds yearly (comprising 46.4 million pounds of copper in concentrates and 4.6 million pounds of cathode copper);
• Molybdenum production to average approximately 11.8 million pounds in concentrates annually;
• A total of approximately 121.4 million pounds of copper equivalent in concentrates and cathodes per year;
• Remaining mine life of 23 years.

Bruce McLeod, president and chief executive officer of Mercator, comments: "Following the successful completion of the phase II expansion to 50,000 tons per day, we are pleased to provide a base case five-year operating forecast for the Mineral Park mine. We believe there may be opportunities for improvement upon the base case guidance as we seek further operating efficiencies. In addition, there may be additional opportunities for increased copper and molybdenum production, since we have not included any impact from the positive grade reconciliation between pounds mined to date versus the block model in our five-year operating forecast. This reconciliation has resulted in the delivery of an estimated 8.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent more copper and molybdenum, respectively, than the mine plan had modelled."

                 FIVE-YEAR OPERATING PLAN FORECAST

Production                           2012    2013    2014    2015    2016 

Copper in concentrate (million                                            
lb)                                  51.9    54.0    45.9    42.4    38.0 
Cathode copper (million lb)           3.6     4.0     4.2     4.9     6.3 
                                    -----   -----   -----   -----   -----
Total copper (million lb)            55.5    58.0    50.1    47.3    44.3 
                                    -----   -----   -----   -----   -----
Molybdenum in concentrate (million                                        
lb)                                  10.3    11.4    11.4    12.0    13.6 
Silver (000 ounces)                 464.4   461.7   562.1   250.9   734.7 
Copper equivalent (1) (million lb)  117.2   126.4   118.6   119.3   125.5 
Milled tons (million tons)           18.8    20.1    20.1    20.1    20.1 
Copper grade (%)                     0.17%   0.17%   0.14%   0.13%   0.12%
Molybdenum grade (%)                0.037%  0.038%  0.038%  0.040%  0.045%
Copper recoveries (%)                80.0%   80.0%   80.0%   80.0%   80.0%
Molybdenum recoveries (%)            75.0%   75.0%   75.0%   75.0%   75.0%
                                                                          
(1) Copper equivalent calculated using a molybdenum/copper ratio of 5.98   
used in the 2006 technical report.                                       

As many of the operating cost parameters have changed since the delivery of the Mineral Park technical report in 2006, early in first quarter 2012 the company intends to provide operating cost estimates based on current input cost and operating parameters, in addition to capital expenditure guidance for fiscal 2012 for Mineral Park.

Quality assurance and quality control

Gary Simmerman, BSc, mining engineering, FAusIMM, Mercator's vice-president, Mineral Park mine, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of and verified the technical information contained in this release.

We seek Safe Harbor.