Magellan Minerals Signs Option on Agua Azul Gold Property, Carajas Mineral Province, Brazil

   Magellan Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: MNM) ("Magellan") is pleased to announce it has signed an option agreement to earn 100% of the Agua Azul gold property located in the prolific Carajas mineral province of northern Brazil.

Agua Azul is a well-known district with historic workings that occur within an EW trending gold belt in south eastern Para state. The property consists of two exploration licenses comprising 11,458 hectares just west of the town of Agua Azul do Norte, 300km south of the regional center of Maraba. An additional 27,148 hectares have been staked approximately 20km west of the Agua Azul property in the vicinity of numerous historic alluvial gold producers. The area has excellent infrastructure and access. State highway 279 transects the northern part of both licenses and the nearby airport at Ourilandia is serviced by daily flights from Belem via Carajas.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, over 5,000 garimpeiros (artisanal miners) extracted several hundred thousand ounces of gold from minor drainages and shallow surface workings in bedrock within the license area. Recently, small scale miners have been exploiting a series of veins and silicified zones up to 8 meters wide that returned values up to 87.7g/t Au in grab samples.

The area is underlain by an Achaean age metamorphic complex intruded by the 1.89 billion year old Seringa granite. Several sub-parallel northwest striking gold-bearing structures have been identified across a width of approximately 3km, hosted both in the metamorphic complex and the younger granite.

Preliminary rock chip sampling by Magellan across quartz veining and peripheral silicification zones at Agua Azul returned values up to 17.46 g/t Au across 5.4m (approximately 4.8m true width). A property-wide soil geochemistry survey is currently underway aimed at identifying prospective drill targets.

The acquisition involves a series of annual payments to Parabras Mineracao starting with a payment of R$100,000 on signing, and a final payment which will be based on the number of proven and probable ounces defined by a feasibility study and a 1% NSR.

Dennis Moore, Magellan's Vice President of Business Development commented, "The Aqua Azul property is an exciting new project containing high-grade, outcropping gold mineralization in an historic mining area. It is another low cost addition to Magellan's portfolio of quality Brazilian gold assets, and is the first significant prospect to be identified by Magellan in the prolific Carajas mineral province."

Magellan Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: MNM) is a TSX Venture Exchange listed exploration company with a number of gold exploration properties in the Tapajos Province of northern Brazil including the Cuiu Cuiu and Coringa projects where drilling is currently in progress.

This press release was reviewed by Gordon Allen, B.Sc., P.Geo, a Professional Geoscientist in British Columbia and a qualified person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

News Release #2011-18

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts: Magellan Minerals Ltd. Alan Carter President and CEO 604.676.5663 [e-mail] Magellan Minerals Ltd. Jennifer Duthie Corporate Communications Manager 778.370.0519 [e-mail] www.magellanminerals.com