Mr. Russell Hallbauer reports

TASEKO ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2012 GROSS PROFIT OF $17 MILLION

Taseko Mines Ltd. has released the results for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Highlights

Revenues for the first quarter 2012 were $55.4-million from the sale of 12.8 million pounds of copper and 354,000 pounds of molybdenum.

Total production at Gibraltar (100 per cent), for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, was 20.7 million pounds of copper and 438,000 pounds of molybdenum.

On a 100-per-cent basis, capital project spending for the first quarter totalled $55.3-million.

On Jan. 31, 2012, Taseko received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to initiate a normal course issuer bid to repurchase up to 5.1 per cent, or 10 million common shares, of the company's issued shares.

On March 28, 2012, Taseko announced the Aley niobium project resource has been upgraded to a measured and indicated resource. At a 0.2-per-cent Nb2O5 cut-off, the measured and indicated resource is 286 million tonnes with an average grade of 0.37 per cent Nb2O5 plus 144 million tonnes of inferred resource with an average grade of 0.32 per cent Nb2O5.

As of April, 2012, detailed engineering for the GDP3 project was more than 70 per cent complete and a definitive construction estimate for the project was completed. The estimate confirmed that the project remains on budget. Major planned construction milestones were achieved during the winter, leaving the project well positioned to take advantage of the spring and summer months to progress the work and achieve mechanical completion by year-end.

For the three months ended March 31, 2012, Taseko had gross profit of $17.1-million and adjusted net earnings of $1.3-million (one cent per share). This compares with gross profit of $25.2-million and adjusted net earnings of $8.0-million (four cents per share) for the three months ended March 31, 2011.

Russell Hallbauer, president and chief executive officer of Taseko, commented: "Earnings in the first quarter were impacted by reduced sales due to the delayed loading of a marine shipment. The approximate six million pounds of copper that was not shipped in the first quarter was shipped early in April and therefore will augment second quarter sales. Also negatively affecting earnings was a $15.5-million unrealized loss on derivatives as well as $4.3-million expensed in the first quarter for the development of our Aley niobium and New Prosperity projects.

"As previously disclosed, first quarter production was lower than anticipated due to ore characteristics, severe winter weather, ground water incursion at the lower level benches and a five-day unplanned shutdown to repair a SAG mill motor. These challenges resulted in reduced mill throughput of approximately 750,000 tons, or four million pounds of copper production."

Mr. Hallbauer continued: "Following a thorough project review with our engineering firm, it was confirmed that the GDP3 project remains on time and on budget. Mechanical completion is expected in December and commissioning will start at that time."

Taseko will host a conference call on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT) to discuss these results. The conference call may be accessed by dialling 877-303-9079 or 970-315-0461 internationally. Accompanying presentation slides will be available to download at the company's website. Alternatively, a live and archived webcast will also be available at the company's website. The conference call will be archived for later playback until May 17, 2012, and can be accessed by dialling 855-859-2056 in Canada and the United States or 404-537-3406 internationally and using the passcode 66610761.

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