El Gallo Complex Exploration Update

TORONTO, ON - McEwen Mining Inc. reported exploration update for its El Gallo Complex in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Recent exploration drilling has focused on two targets. The first is a new gold vein that returned multiple intersections of high-grade gold over narrow intersections, including 27.5 gpt gold over 2.1 meters. The second target is located inside of the Phase 1 area, which is permitted for mining and scheduled to begin production during the second half of 2012, where wide intersections of low-grade gold mineralization have been encountered including 0.45 gpt gold over 77.6 meters.

Exploration drilling in the area known as Mina Grande has intersected some of the highest-grade gold mineralization encountered on the property. To date, six core holes have been completed on the vein known as the "Queen of Gold", with three of the holes returning high-grade over narrow intersections. The three other holes encountered the zone, but returned lower grades. McEwen Mining is encouraged by this discovery due to 1) the high-grade nature of the mineralization, 2) the potential length of the vein, which has been identified over 200 meters through drilling and up to 700 meters along surface by rock samples, and 3) the limited amount of exploration that has been completed in the area. Drilling is currently focused on extending the high-grade mineralization at depth and laterally.