Benton Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:BTC) ("Benton" or "the Company") is pleased
to announce that the Company has now received all assay results from its
recently completed diamond drilling program on its 100% owned Abernethy gold
project located 10km southwest of Kenora, Ontario. The drill program has
confirmed the potential to outline a significant gold resource on the property.
A total of nine holes were drilled with seven of the holes testing the main
horizon and the other two testing areas north and south of the main horizon. The
main horizon known as the "Mingold Zone" has been traced for approximately 550m
in strike length and up to 77m core length in width and is open in all
directions. The Mingold Zone was discovered by a single hole drilled by Hudbay
minerals in 1965 (17.8 gpt gold over 1.52 metres) and subsequently three more
holes drilled by MinGold in 1989 which returned up to 6.30 gpt gold over 6.1
metres (see Benton's PR dated April 18, 2011). 


Benton's drill campaign was successful in confirming and expanding the
mineralization in strike length and at shallow depths. The gold mineralization
warrants further drilling to test the full extent, grade and potential of this
new discovery. Based on the limited shallow diamond drilling completed to date
the mineralization appears to be a large gold system with multiple parallel
zones. A location map can be viewed on the company's web site and a table of
significant results from all drill holes is listed below:




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hole ID                    From         To  Core length (m)   Grade (g/t Au)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-01                  102.4        103              0.6             4.48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                      121.15        127             5.85             2.63
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
includes                  125.5        127              1.5             7.78
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                       151.7      153.2              1.5             1.69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-03                   46.5       49.5                3             0.98
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-04                   94.4       96.1              1.7             1.85
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                       110.8      115.2              4.4             2.56
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
includes                  110.8      112.3              1.5             6.96
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                       133.5     134.05              .55             1.22
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-05                   70.9       73.4              2.5             0.34
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-06                 117.75      130.7            12.95             0.45
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
includes                 117.75      119.7             1.95             1.46
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                       128.1      130.7              2.6             0.78
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-07 (i)              123.5        216             92.5             0.46
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
includes                  156.5        164              7.5             2.24
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-08                    4.9      10.45             5.55             0.48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                       66.25      67.75              1.5             1.22
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABE11-09                  39.25       41.7             2.45             0.82
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                        75.5       76.4             1.32              0.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and                      127.75      131.5             3.75             0.48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Previously reported on, see Benton's PR dated November 15, 2011 for more
details of this intersection                                                



In addition, Benton is pleased to announce that Mineral Mountain Resources (TSX
VENTURE:MMV) has made its final share payment under its agreement with Benton to
purchase the Golden Harp Copper Hill option (see Benton's PR dated October 26,
2010). Benton now holds approximately 8.47 million shares of Mineral Mountain's
issued and outstanding shares. 


About Benton

Benton is a Canadian based junior with multiple joint ventures and a diversified
property portfolio in Gold, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. The
Company currently has approximately $8.4 million in cash, owns approximately
57.9 million shares in Coro Mining Corp. (TSX:COP), holds approximately 348,000
shares of Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE:SWC), holds 782,500 shares in Marathon
Gold Corp. (TSX:MOZ), holds 1.6 million shares in Puget Ventures (TSX
VENTURE:PVS), holds 8.47 million shares of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. (TSX
VENTURE:MMV), and holds 815,000 shares of Bell Copper Corporation (TSX
VENTURE:BCU) holds 1.2 million shares of Trillium North Minerals (TSX
VENTURE:TNM), holds 1.5 million shares of Golden Dory Resources (TSX
VENTURE:GDR) and 3.0 million shares Parkside Resources (currently private)
Benton is currently in the process of spinning out the majority of its assets by
a plan of arrangement into a new listed company in order to separate its 41.6%
investment in Coro Mining from its cash, equities and exploration assets. Benton
shareholders will receive a pro-rata interest in this new company on a
one-for-one share basis and pursuant to regulatory approval.


Clinton Barr (P.Geo.), V.P. Exploration for Benton Resources Corp., is the
qualified person responsible for this release.


On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Corp.,

Stephen Stares, President

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors
are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties.