NICKEL-COPPER MINING: Operations to resume at Shakespeare

ONTARIO — Ursa Major Minerals of Toronto will resume mining in January 2010 at its Shakespeare nickel-copper mine 70 km west of Sudbury. Ursa and Xstrata Nickel have inked a deal whereby ore from the Shakespeare pit will be processed at Xstrata's Strathcona mill.

Pre-production work was suspended in October 2008. At that time, 83,029 tonnes of ore had been processed by Xstrata. The ore had average grades of 0.39% Ni, 0.40% Cu, 0.03% Co and 1.0 g/t precious metals. Based on previous grades and recoveries, Ursa expects that the 200,000 tonnes of ore to be processed next year will yield 1.1 million lb of nickel, 1.7 million lb of copper, 55,700 lb of cobalt and 3,100 oz of precious metals.

Ursa is currently evaluating its financing options to fund the restart of mining. See www.UrsaMajorMinerals.com for more information.