EL CONDOR ACQUIRING ADVANCED EXPLORATION STAGE COPPER, NICKEL & PGE PROJECT IN QUEBEC

TSXV: LCO

VANCOUVER, July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - El Condor Minerals Inc. ("El Condor" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following information concerning its acquisition (the "Acquisition") of the Horden Lake Property, previously announced on June 20, 2011.

Pursuant to the terms of a property purchase agreement made effective June 15, 2011 between the Company and Quetzal Energy Ltd., the Company will acquire 100% of the interest held by Quetzal in the Horden Lake Property, an advanced exploration stage copper, nickel and platinum group elements project located approximately 140 kilometers north of Mattagami, in east central Quebec. The total land package is in excess of 52 square kilometers comprising 106 mineral claims, and includes a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource in a copper-nickel deposit (see Report below).

Leigh Freeman, President and Chief Executive Officer of El Condor, said "We are extremely excited to be purchasing Horden Lake.  The opportunity to acquire an actual copper resource gives El Condor a leg up from being an explorer - with copper of course one of the most utilized metals commodities world-wide.  An advanced exploration stage project with more than 150 drill holes defining a NI43-101 resource, our initial studies also indicate the current resource to be easily expandable, plus it has outstanding exploration upside. And importantly, it is located in one of the premier geological and geopolitical locales in the world."

"Horden Lake is a Canadian legacy mineral property, initially discovered in the 1960's by an INCO-Noranda joint venture, early in the deployment of airborne electromagnetic exploration of the Canadian Shield.  After extensive work, a prefeasibility study in the early 1980's modeled an initial open-pit mine followed by bulk mining underground, however commodity pricing at that time wouldn't support development.  But as a result of improved metals prices and road access with power lines, the deposit and the district are extremely relevant today."

The Horden Lake deposit is a classic magmatic copper-nickel deposit with platinum group and precious metal credits.  It lies within a 40 kilometer long, 1-1.5 kilometer wide layered mafic to ultra-mafic sill in a volcano-sedimentary rock sequence of Archean age. The Horden Lake deposit is the most advanced exploration project within this large mineral district.

The Company engaged an independent geological consulting firm to prepare a NI43-101-compliant technical report in respect of the Horden Lake Property.  The report ("Report"), entitled "Independent Technical Report:  Horden Lake Property, Quebec" is being finalized and will be filed on SEDAR under the Company's profile in the coming days.

The resource number from the Report is as follows, calculated effective April 2009 using the Ordinary Kriging method with a 0.5% copper cut off as a limiting factor:

• Indicated Tonnes 8,759,200 at 0.88% Cu and 0.21% Ni
  
  
• Inferred Tonnes: 7,791,195 at  0.87% Cu and 0.25% Ni

This resource is unbounded at depth as well as along both its northeasterly and southwesterly strike extensions where historic drilling by INCO continued to intersect the mineralization.

According to the Report, this resource occurs as two lenses within the ultra-mafic rock sequence. Zone 1 is 1,500 meters long, averages 19 meters thick and is followed down-dip at least 300 meters. Zone 2 located in the hanging wall of Zone 1 is 290 meters long, averages 10 meters thick and is also followed substantially down-dip. The deposit sub-crops immediately beneath a sheet of glacial till.

As mentioned above, Horden Lake is a Canadian legacy property. INCO explored the area from 1962 to 1969 (initially in the joint venture with Noranda) and conducted regional and ground geophysical and geological surveys followed by diamond drilling totaling 32,229 meters in 157 drill holes. This work led to the discovery and initial delineation of the Horden Lake Property mineral system. The property's remote location combined with low metal prices precluded development at the time of discovery.  Metals prices have now increased substantially, and the recently completed road and power line for the Le Grande hydroelectric project transects the district, making it readily accessible.  These positive factors prompted recent work (2008) by Southampton Ventures Inc. (now Quetzal) which was designed to confirm and expand on that of INCO.

Exploration work undertaken by Southampton on the Horden Lake Property includes:

• Drilling: 18,136 meters in 73 holes between January 26, 2008 and March 19, 2009. This work provided infill drilling with a 50 meters spacing within the central portion of mineralization defined by 95 holes previously completed within the deposit by INCO in 1969.
  
  
• A Fugro HeliGEOTEM II airborne geophysical survey, including an orientation/calibration survey over the Horden Lake Property deposit and 592 line kilometers of collected over the Northeastern Claim group. The former documented a strong electromagnetic and magnetic response of the known mineralization and the latter identified a number of similar and very promising targets in the Northeastern Claim group.
  
  
• Completion of a NI43-101 compliant report on April 15, 2009 qualifying a significant resource.

Proposed Future Work

A two-phase program is recommended with the goal of developing the necessary information for a Preliminary Economic Evaluation to qualify Horden Lake as an Early Stage Development project. The total cost of this work is $1.4 million, to be completed in less than 12 months.

• Phase I will develop independent wireframe geological models for the distributions for Cu, Ni and PGEs assays, which in turn will be combined to provide a more comprehensive and complete mineral inventory. This model will also be used to design a drill program to upgrade and increase the mineral resource as well as define locations to collect drill core for metallurgical testing.
  
  
• Phase II includes 3,000 meters of drilling, metallurgical testing, recalculation of the mineral inventory and preparation of an updated NI43-101 report.

Iain Kelso, who is independent from the Company and is a Qualified Person under NI43-101 is responsible for the preparation of the resource estimate referenced above.  Elisabeth Ronacher, who is independent from the Company and is a Qualified Person under NI43-101, has reviewed the technical content of this news release.

The Acquisition

The purchase price for Quetzal's interest in the Horden Lake Property is $5 million, which will be paid as to $3 million in cash (of which a non-refundable deposit of $100,000 has been paid), and by the issuance of $2 million in common shares of the Company, to be issued at the lesser of $0.20 and the price per share of a private placement (the "Private Placement Financing") of common shares that will be undertaken by El Condor for proceeds of not less than $3 million.  The Private Placement Financing will complete concurrently with, or in conjunction with, the Acquisition.

Upon the completion of the Acquisition and the Private Placement Financing, it is expected that Quetzal will hold approximately 13-18% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company (dependent upon pricing of the issue) and one nominee of Quetzal will be appointed to the El Condor board of directors.

The Acquisition and the Private Placement Financing are subject to regulatory approval.  No finders' fees or commissions are payable in respect of the Acquisition.  The terms of the Private Placement Financing are being finalized.

About El Condor Minerals Inc.

El Condor Minerals Inc. is a minerals exploration company focused on the discovery of large precious- and base-metal mineral systems in stable political jurisdictions.  Additional information on El Condor, its properties and exploration activities is available at the Company's website: www.elcondorminerals.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Leigh W. Freeman"

President & CEO

Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

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 for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE El Condor Minerals Inc.