Malbex Reports 80% Gold Recoveries from Column Testing of Rojo Grande Mineralization

Malbex Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MBG) is pleased to report final results from
column leach testing of Rojo Grande mineralization from the Company's Del Carmen
Norte gold-silver (Au-Ag) project in San Juan province, Argentina. Average gold
recoveries of nearly 80% in static columns show there is good potential to use
heap leach cyanidation to process Rojo Grande mineralization. Heap leaching is
generally considered to be a lower capital and operating cost alternative to
traditional milling, vat cyanidation or other methods of gold extraction.


Seven composite samples weighing approximately 200 kilograms each and
representative of grade, mineralogical and spatial variations within the
inferred resource at Rojo Grande were subjected to individual column testing at
McClelland Laboratories, Inc. in Sparks, Nevada. Two feed sizes (12.5 mm
(half-inch) and 6.3 mm (quarter-inch)) were tested for each composite. Average
recoveries for all column tests were 79.8% for gold and 35.7% for silver.
Testing indicates that the composites are amenable to simulated heap leach
cyanidation and show limited sensitivity to crush size (12.5 mm composites
average 78.6% gold recovery with 6.3 mm composites averaging 80.9% gold). The
column tests show higher gold recoveries for quartz-alunite hosted
mineralization (average 85.3%) compared to silicified material (average 75.6%).
Gold recovery rates are reported as "moderate to fairly rapid". The Rojo Grande
mineralization is oxidized with few visible sulphide minerals and very low
"sulphide sulphur" analyses in silicified composites while quartz-alunite
composites contain up to 0.83 weight % "sulphide sulphur". 


"We're very encouraged by the results of this phase of comprehensive
metallurgical testing. The Rojo Grande mineralization is shown to be amenable to
standard heap leaching cyanidation techniques. Heap leach operations are
generally cheaper, faster to engineer and can be built in a fraction of the time
when compared to grind-CIP plants." said Joe Hamilton, CEO of Malbex. 


Metallurgical testing 

McClelland Laboratories, Inc. of Sparks, NV conducted heap leach cyanidation
tests, on both agitated (bottle roll) and larger static columns, in order to
determine gold and silver recoveries, rates of recovery, reagent consumption and
sensitivity of cyanidation to feed size. Additional tests were conducted to
determine parameters for agglomeration, load/permeability and modified acid base
accounting static acid rock drainage (ARD) potential. The latter two tests along
with mineralogical and gold deportment studies were conducted by third party
contractors. The McClelland metallurgical report will be available at
www.malbex.ca/reports.


Further information about Del Carmen Norte, including maps, sections and a
complete assay table may also be accessed at www.malbex.ca/Projects/Del_Carmen. 


About Del Carmen Norte 

The 151 km2 Del Carmen concession package is located near the southern end of
the El Indio Gold Belt, and hosts two high sulphidation epithermal gold-silver
alteration systems. The Del Carmen Norte hydrothermal alteration system covers
approximately 9 km2. The second, less exposed, high sulphidation epithermal
system at Del Carmen Sur is some 5 km to the south. 


Del Carmen Norte consists of a strongly altered, sub-horizontal sequence of
andesitic volcanic rocks that are cut by numerous faults. Volcanic and/or
hydrothermal breccias appear to be selectively silicified with mineralization
hosted by silicification and quartz-alunite alteration between less favourable
argillic (quartz-kaolinite) alteration in volcanic lithologies. Steep structures
and the margin of dacite domes appear to have also strongly influenced
hydrothermal fluid flow within the volcanic sequence. High-sulphidation
alteration is therefore zoned outward by the combination of both lithological
and structural controls.


About the Rojo Grande deposit 

The Rojo Grande deposit has the following characteristics:



--  Disseminated, very fine-grained mineralization that is 
    --  hosted in two ore types: 1) silicified breccias and pervasive
        silicification and 2) quartz-alunite alteration; 
    --  shallow, locally outcropping; and 
    --  strongly oxidized, with metallurgical testing showing the resource
        is amenable to heap leach processing. 
--  Contains a pit-constrained inferred resource of 25.4 million tonnes
    grading 1.0 g/t gold and 13.3 g/t silver. 



Technical information

Each composite was created by combining selected intervals of quarter core
(i.e., half sampling of previously sampled half core) to make samples
representative of the two types of mineralization (silica, quartz-alunite) that
comprise the inferred resource at Rojo Grande. The average calculated grade for
four silica zone composites is 1.03 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver; that for three
quartz-alunite composites is 1.31 g/t gold and 16.7 g/t silver. Fire assays of
the composites by McClelland are in good agreement with calculated averages. The
intervals selected in September 2011 span the then-known horizontal and vertical
extent of vuggy silica and silicification (silica zone) and the underlying
quartz-alunite alteration from over 90% of the twenty-three drill holes that
defined the inferred resource at Rojo Grande.


Static leach tests were conducted in 15 centimetre by 3 metre columns at two
feed sizes: 80% passing 12.5 mm and 80% passing 6.3 mm. The average gold
recovery for the fourteen column leach tests is 79.8% with a range from 60.0 to
88.9%. Gold recovery rates are reported as moderate to fairly rapid with test
leach cycles ranging from 66 to 151 days. Leaching of two silica composites was
incomplete suggesting some material may require a long leach cycle. Gold leach
rate profiles commonly flattened after 30 or more days of leaching. Cyanide
consumption is low to moderate with the lab reporting that consumptions should
be lower in commercial production. Lime and cement requirements for
agglomeration appear to be low to moderate to maintain pH control and stability
in loading tests that simulate 20 m and 40 m high stacks.


About Malbex

Malbex Resources Inc. is a gold exploration company led by experienced
management and directors with projects in Argentina and Peru. In April 2010,
Malbex made a near-surface, gold-silver oxide discovery at Del Carmen in
Argentina. Released in September 2011, the National Instrument 43-101-compliant,
inferred mineral resource estimate for the Rojo Grande deposit at Del Carmen
measured 25.4 million tonnes grading 1.00 g/t gold and 13.3 g/t silver for
816,600 ounces of contained gold and 10.9 million ounces of contained silver.
Further drilling was conducted during the 2011-2012 field season which extended
the known mineralization. The Del Carmen project is located in the El Indio Gold
Belt which contains more than 35 million ounces of gold in current reserves and
past production, including Barrick's Veladero mine and Pascua-Lama project. For
more information, please visit www.malbex.ca. 


Peter Stewart, PhD, Vice-President Exploration of Malbex Resources Inc., is a
Professional Geoscientist in the Province of Ontario, and is the Qualified
Person as defined by NI 43-101 responsible for the technical information
presented in this news release.


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