Mr. Mark Morabito reports

ALDERON COMMENCES FINAL DRILL PROGRAM BEFORE FEASIBILITY STUDY

Alderon Iron Ore Corp. has commenced the 2012 winter drilling program at its 100-per-cent-owned Kamistiatusset (Kami) iron ore project in western Labrador. The four-month drill program will be focused predominately on North Rose and will include up to 18,000 metres of drilling with six drills. The program will concentrate on infill drilling with the goal of upgrading the current mineral resource into the measured and indicated categories in preparation for the feasibility study expected in the third quarter of 2012.

"We are excited to get our 2012 program under way and be back drilling on North Rose," said Tayfun Eldem, president and chief executive officer of Alderon. "Our 2011 program was extremely successful, and we are looking forward to building on that success as we work to upgrade our resource in advance of completing the feasibility study in the third quarter. The final phase of drilling represents another major milestone in driving Kami through the development stage into production."

North Rose, Rose Central and Mills Lake have a currently defined National Instrument 43-101 indicated resource of 490 million tonnes at 30 per cent iron and an additional inferred resource of 598 million tonnes at 30.3 per cent iron.

The proposed drill hole location map is posted on the Alderon website.

Alderon's exploration work on the Kami property is supervised by Edward Lyons, PGeo, the chief geologist for Alderon and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Lyons has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

Additional information about the Kami project can be found in the technical reports filed on SEDAR entitled "Preliminary Economic Assessment Report of the Kamistiatusset (Kami) Iron Ore Property, Labrador for Alderon Iron Ore Corp.," dated Sept. 8, 2011, and "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate on the Rose North Deposit, Kamistiatusset Property, Newfoundland and Labrador for Alderon Iron Ore Corp.," dated Oct. 26, 2011. For more information on Alderon, please visit its website.

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