VANCOUVER, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Search Minerals Inc. ("Search" or the "Company") (TSXV: SMY) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded, along with B & A Minerals of Port Hope Simpson, Labrador, the Explorer/Prospector of the Year Award for Newfoundland and Labrador by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, Newfoundland and Labrador Branch.

The Company accepted its award at the CIM Gala Awards Dinner, part of the Mineral Resources Review Conference, which was held in St. John's, Newfoundland from November 3-5, 2011.

Jim Clucas, President and CEO stated; "This is an incredible honour for the Search Team.  Dr. Randy Miller, VP of Exploration and his field team of geologists and prospectors have done an outstanding job over the past 18 months staking and developing the first rare earth elements district discovered by a junior company in Canada with eight announced prospects to date.  Work is continuing in the Port Hope Simpson REE District and we look forward to more exciting developments including a NI 43-101 from the Foxtrot Prospect in the near future. The Foxtrot Prospect is only one of 14 discoveries made on Search's large land position in Labrador in the summer of 2010."

Exploration Program Update:
The Search ground holdings in the Port Hope Simpson REE District (926 square kilometres) form a 135 km long and 4 - 12 km wide belt and consist of 3704 claims in 66 licenses.  To date a total of 8 REE prospects have been discovered in the District, including: Rock Rolling Hill, Rattling Bog Hill, Piperstock Hill, Southern Shore, Toots Cove, Pesky Hill, HighREE Island and Foxtrot. The Foxtrot Prospect occurs in the Fox Harbour mineralized belt. Piperstock Hill, Southern Shore, Toots Cove and Pesky Hill occur in a 13 km mineralized belt known as the HighREE Hills. Both the Fox Harbour and HighREE Hills mineralized belts are considered very prospective for REEs.

About Search Minerals:
Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV:SMY) is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company, headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. Search is the discoverer of the Port Hope Simpson REE District, a highly prospective light and heavy REE belt located in southeast Labrador where the company controls a dominant land position in a belt 135km long and up to 12km wide.  In addition, Search has a number of other mineral prospects in its portfolio located in Newfoundland and Labrador, including a number of claims in the Strange Lake Complex, where Quest Rare Minerals has an earn-in agreement with the Company; and at the Red Wine Complex, where Great Western Minerals Group has an earn-in agreement with the Company. 

Furthermore, Search Minerals is the owner of patents relating to the Starved Acid Leaching Technology ("SALT"), a process with the potential to economically recover nickel and cobalt from known deposits currently considered subeconomic.

Search Minerals is led by a management team and board with a proven track record in the mining industry.  The Company has a team with deep geological and metallurgical expertise respectively led by Dr. Randy Miller and Dr. David Dreisinger.

All material information on the Company may be found on its website at www.searchminerals.ca and on SEDAR at sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility of the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement:
The following presentation may include certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian Securities Laws.  All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in the presentation, including without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Search Minerals, are forward-looking statements.  Words such as "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "believe" and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions but rather reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumption and other factors, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.  There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate.  We base our forward-looking statements on information currently available to us and we do not assume any obligation to update them, except as required by law.

An additional Cautionary Note to Investors:  In the event that we use certain terms in this presentation such as "resource", "measured resource", "indicated resource" and "inferred resource".  US investors are cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian Securities Laws, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them.  Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination has been made.  U.S. investors should not assume that all or any part of measured or indicated resources will ever be converted into reserves.  In addition, "inferred resources" have a greater amount of uncertainly as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically.  Accordingly, information concerning descriptions of mineralization in the presentation may not be comparable to information made public by companies that are subject to the SEC's Industry Guide 7.

All of the scientific and technical information contained herein has been reviewed and/or prepared by Dr. Randy Miller, P.Geo, a "Qualified Person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101-Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects.  For further details of the Company's procedures and policies for data verification, the reader is referred to the Company's news releases and other material information available on the Company's website at www.searchminerals.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

SOURCE Search Minerals Inc.