TerraX drills wide zones of gold mineralization on Central Canada Property, including 23.30 m @ 0.83 g/t Au and 10.61 m of 1.32 g/t Au

TSX-V: TXR
Frankfurt: TX0

VANCOUVER, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSX.V: TXR; Frankfurt: TX0) has received assay results from its recent 1,160 meter drill program at its wholly-owned Central Canada and Sunbeam-Pettigrew properties near Atikokan, Ontario. Anomalous gold (>300 ppb Au) was encountered in all ten drill holes.

At the Central Canada property, Terrax completed three holes (363 m) spaced approximately 55 meters apart to test a 110 m strike length of the main mineralized structure, which trends east-northeast.  This structure was identified during sampling in 2010, with grab sample results up to 39.6 g/t Au and channel samples of 2.0 m @ 2.51 g/t Au (see our news release of January 19, 2011).  Drill holes were aligned to cut normal to the mineralized structures identified in the channel sampling. Drill intersections from southwest to northeast include 23.30 m @ 0.83 g/t Au (including 0.63 m @ 7.36 g/t Au) in hole CC12-03, 10.61 m @ 1.32 g/t Au (including 1.82 m @ 4.77 g/t Au) in hole CC12-01, and 8.92 m @ 0.74 g/t Au in hole CC12-02.  Selected results from drilling at Central Canada are as follows

:

To follow-up on the success of this initial limited drill program at Central Canada, TerraX is planning further drilling later this year to determine the overall size of the mineralized structure, which remains open along strike and down-dip.  Hole CC12-02 encountered extensive alteration and was extended to a final depth of 157 meters. Several anomalous gold zones parallel to the main structure were intersected in this hole indicating the potential for multiple gold horizons at Central Canada. All three holes had significant gold intersections on the main structure indicating a continuously mineralized zone of consistent gold grade. The intersections are especially significant given that the 10.52 million ounces of gold defined at the nearby Hammond Reef deposit by Osisko Mining Corporation are at a grade of 0.62 g/t Au.

On the Sunbeam-Pettigrew property, TerraX drilled three new target areas: the WN2 and Rubble showings, and drilled its first hole into the down-dip extension of the old Sunbeam Mine (circa 1900).  The highlights from WN2 included 0.95 m @ 18.00 g/t Au, whereas Rubble returned a best intersection of 12.34 m @ 0.61 g/t Au. Drill holes were aligned to cut normal to the mineralized structures identified in the channel sampling.

Three holes (326 m) were drilled at WN2, where channel sampling in 2011 produced an intercept of 23 m @ 276 ppb (0.28 g/t) Au (news release of Feb 12, 2012).  Two holes were drilled as a fence along one section line to test across the 75 m wide intermittently mineralized stripped outcrop. The first hole (SP12-14) tested the hangingwall part of the zones and intersected 11.8 m @ 0.33 g/t Au in iron carbonatized tonalite.  Hole SP12-15 tested the footwall zone and returned a high grade intersection of 0.95 m @ 18.00 g/t Au in a zone of altered tonalite cut by several quartz-ankerite-pyrite veins. The third hole (SP12-16) was drilled 50 m along strike and intersected a 1.65 m zone which ran 0.46 g/t Au.

Three holes drilled at the Rubble showing tested a 150 m strike length of a north-northeast trending structure where previous channel sampling results included 11 m @ 500 ppb (0.50 g/t) Au.  A consistently anomalous gold zone was intersected in SP12-19, which produced 12.34 m @ 0.61 g/t Au.  Holes SP12-17 and SP12-18 contained patchy anomalous gold, with assays of up to 0.30 g/t Au in both holes.

The quartz vein/shear zone that comprises the Sunbeam structure was intersected in hole SP12-20; assays returned a weakly anomalous intersection of 1.18 m @ 0.23 g/t Au.

Selected results from drilling the three targets on the Sunbeam-Pettigrew property are as follows:

This recent drilling on WN2 and Rubble brings to five the number of gold mineralized zones drilled at Sunbeam-Pettigrew since early 2011, including the Road (13.90 m @ 1.11 g/t Au reported March 16, 2011), Roy (14.70 m @ 0.67 g/t Au reported April 12, 2011), and AL198 (5.63m @ 0.98 g/t Au reported April 12, 2011) zones. These zones occur on mineralized structures defined by prospecting to be up to 10 kilometers long. TerraX believes that the consistency in successfully drilling mineralized zones over widespread target areas is an indication of the promising gold endowment on the property.

The Sunbeam-Pettigrew property consists of 36 claims totaling 425 claim units (~67 km2) within the Archean Marmion Batholith, in a similar geological environment to the Hammond Reef gold deposit, presently being developed by Osisko Mining Corporation. The Central Canada property consists of seven claims totaling 24 claim units (~3.8 km2) on the southern margin of the Marmion Batholith, and approximately 3 kilometers from the south boundary of the Sunbeam-Pettigrew property.

All drill core from the 2012 drill program was logged, split and sampled at a secure core facility near Atikokan. Samples were delivered by TerraX personnel to the Activation Laboratories ("Actlabs") facility in Thunder Bay. Actlabs is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited analytical laboratory. Analysis was by fire assay with AA finish. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored at the laboratory by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Quality control is further assured by the use of international and in-house standards. TerraX routinely inserted blanks and certified standards into the sample stream in order to independently assess analytical accuracy.

TerraX Minerals Inc. is one of the major landholders of prospective ground in the burgeoning Marmion Batholith gold district near Atikokan, Ontario, host to Osisko Mining Corporation's (TSX: OSK) Hammond Reef gold deposit which contains a National Instrument 43-101-compliant global inferred resource of 530.6 million tonnes at 0.62 grams per tonne Au (10.52 million ounces gold).  The Osisko Technical Report on this project is available on SEDAR. TerraX is actively exploring three wholly-owned gold exploration projects, the Sunbeam-Pettigrew,  Central Canada and Blackfly (2.0 m @10.96 g/t Au reported March 4, 2011) properties, all of which are located within 20 km of the town of Atikokan, 180 km west of Thunder Bay, and are within 19 km of the Hammond Reef gold deposit. TerraX is currently targeting for follow-up drill programs on all three of these properties.

TerraX is also actively exploring the 60.5 sq km Stewart property in the Burin Peninsula, which is part of the Avalon Terrane. The Avalon Terrane hosts several epithermal/porphyry gold-copper deposits, including the past-producing Hope Brook deposit in Newfoundland. Exploration at Stewart by TerraX in 2011 indicated the property hosts porphyry to epithermal style alteration and mineralization. A detailed mapping program will be carried out in June at Stewart to ascertain the trends of mineralization discovered in a Q3 2011 drill program (111 m @ 0.13 g/t Au and 0.05% Cu reported Oct. 31, 2011), as well as follow-up on the Forty Creek showing, where a grab sample of 59 g/t Au and 2290 g/t Ag was reported December 10, 2010.

The technical information contained in this news release has been verified by Dr. Tom Setterfield, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties."

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"JOSEPH CAMPBELL"
Joseph Campbell, P.Geo
President

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

This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, and the results of exploration activities - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE TerraX Minerals Inc.