Iberian Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IZN) today announced financial and operating
results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, with comparative figures for
the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. The condensed interim consolidated
financial statements and related notes, and Management Discussion and Analysis
may be found on www.sedar.com. Unless stated otherwise, all reported figures are
in U.S. dollars. The Company reported net loss of $12.3 million for Q1 2012,
representing $0.02 per share.




Financial:                                                                  

--  Recorded net loss of $12.28 million or $0.02 per registered share which
    included: 
    
    --  Sales of $86.53 million and gross profit of $6.50 million; 
        
    --  A realized loss of $16.19 million on commodity hedges (included in
        sales) which reduced the gross profit; 
        
    --  An unrealized non-cash loss of $15.37 million on derivative
        financial instruments outstanding primarily due to an increase in
        metals prices impacting the fair value of outstanding copper hedge
        positions. 
        
--  Cash flow provided by operations was $15.46 million.
    

                                                                            
Operational - MATSA:                                                        

--  MATSA processed 545,813 tonnes of ores in 2012; 277,250 copper and
    268,563 polymetallic. This was an increase of 6% over the 514,083 tonnes
    of ores processed in 2011. 
    
--  Produced 28,105 DMT of copper concentrate (2011 - 26,761 DMT), 19,831
    DMT of zinc concentrate (2011 - 17,366 DMT), and 6,707 DMT of lead
    concentrate (2011 - 10,412 DMT). Contained metal production was 6,347
    tonnes of copper (2011 - 6,001 tonnes), 9,393 tonnes of zinc (2011 -
    8,451 tonnes), 1,824 tonnes of lead (2011 - 1,954 tonnes) and 272,890 oz
    of silver (2011 - 298,823 oz). 
    
--  The Cash Operating Cost was $1.17 per payable pound of copper (2011 -
    $1.72 per payable pound of copper). Cash Operating Cost was
    substantially reduced in 2012 due to the combined effect of higher
    payable copper production, higher by-product metal production and prices
    and lower actual operating costs realized. 
    
--  In February 2012 MATSA signed a new collective labour agreement with its
    unionized workers. The new agreement expires in December 2015. The
    agreement includes salary increases tied to the Spanish inflationary
    index.
    

                                                                            
Operational - CMC:                                                          

--  Copper ore grade was 0.96% versus 1.12% in 2011. 
    
--  CMC processed 599,303 tonnes of ore in the period versus 578,738 tonnes
    for the same period of the prior year. 
    
--  Copper concentrate production in the period was 22,573 DMT versus 23,387
    DMT in the prior year period. 
    
--  Contained copper production in the period was 5,219 tonnes versus 5,768
    tonnes in the prior year period. 
    
--  The Cash Operating Cost for the period was $1.71 per payable pound of
    copper versus prior year period of $1.08. 



Summarized Financial Results

The following table presents a summarized Statement of Operations for the period
ended March 31, 2012 with comparatives for the period ended March 31, 2011.




                                                         Three months ended 
                                                                  March 31, 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(thousands of U.S. Dollars)                               2012         2011 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             $            $ 
Sales                                                   86,528       37,230 
Costs and expenses of mining operations                 80,027       59,801 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
Gross profit (loss)                                      6,501      (22,571)
                                                                            
Expenses                                                                    
Administrative expenses and other                        2,573        1,446 
Exploration and evaluation expenditures                  6,230            - 
Foreign exchange loss                                    2,510        3,141 
Unrealized (gain) loss on derivative instruments        15,373      (63,078)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        26,686      (58,491)
                                                                            
Operating income (loss)                                (20,185)      35,920 
                                                                            
Net finance costs                                          973        6,231 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Income (loss) before taxation                          (21,158)      29,689 
                                                                            
Current income tax recovery                             (1,019)         843 
Deferred income tax recovery                            (7,857)      (1,316)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net income (loss)                                      (12,282)      30,162 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
Key operating statistics                                                    
                                                                            
CMC:                                                                        
                                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Three months    
Periods ended March 31,                         Unit        2012        2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
Ore mined                                          t     632,291     587,956
Ore processed                                      t     599,303     578,738
                                                                            
Copper ore grade                                   %        0.96        1.12
Concentrate grade                                  %          23          25
Copper recovery rate                               %          91          89
                                                                            
Copper concentrate                               DMT      22,573      23,387
                                                                            
Copper contained in concentrate                  FMT       5,219       5,768
Gold contained in concentrate                     oz       2,950       3,406
Silver contained in concentrate                   oz      76,360      77,840
                                                                            
Payable copper contained in concentrate          FMT       4,972       5,506
Payable gold contained in concentrate             oz       2,650       3,084
Payable silver contained in concentrate           oz      68,605      69,705
                                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash Operating Cost per lb of payable                                       
 copper                                          USD   $    1.71   $    1.08
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
                                                                            
MATSA:                                                                      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Three months       
Periods ended March 31,                       Unit         2012        2011
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           
Copper ore                                                                 
Ore mined                                        t      283,226     304,687
Ore processed                                    t      277,250     305,748
                                                                           
Copper ore grade                                %          2.13        2.17
Concentrate grade                               %            23          22
Copper recovery rate                            %            86          86
                                                                           
Copper concentrate                             DMT       22,692      25,403
                                                                           
Copper contained in concentrate                FMT        5,095       5,713
Silver contained in concentrate                 oz       86,870      92,319
                                                                           
Payable copper contained in                                                
 concentrate                                   FMT        4,868       5,459
Payable silver contained in                                                
 concentrate                                    oz       64,983      67,476
                                                                           
Polymetallic ore                                                           
                                                                           
Ore mined                                        t      263,796     214,180
Ore processed                                    t      268,563     208,335
                                                                           
Zinc ore grade                                  %          4.84        5.99
Zinc concentrate grade                          %            47          49
Zinc recovery rate                              %            72          68
                                                                           
Copper ore grade                                %          0.85        1.06
Copper concentrate grade                        %            23          21
Copper recovery rate                            %            54          19
                                                                           
Lead ore grade                                  %          1.45        1.87
Lead concentrate grade                          %            26          19
Lead recovery rate                              %            45          51
                                                                           
Zinc concentrate                               DMT       19,831      17,366
Copper concentrate                             DMT        5,413       1,358
Lead concentrate                               DMT        6,707      10,412
                                                                           
Zinc contained in concentrate                  FMT        9,393       8,451
Copper contained in concentrate                FMT        1,252         288
Lead contained in concentrate                  FMT        1,824       1,954
Silver contained in concentrate                 oz      186,020     206,504
                                                                           
Payable zinc contained in concentrate          FMT        7,807       7,061
Payable copper contained in                                                
 concentrate                                   FMT        1,198         275
Payable lead contained in concentrate          FMT        1,623       1,641
Payable silver contained in                                                
 concentrate                                    oz      108,591     136,210
                                                                           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash Operating Cost per lb of payable                                      
 copper                                        USD         1.17        1.72
---------------------------------------------------------------------------



About Iberian Minerals Corp.

Iberian Minerals Corp. is a Canadian listed global base metals company with
interests in Spain and Peru. The Condestable Mine, located in Peru approximately
90 km south of Lima operates at 2.4 million tonnes per year producing copper,
and associated silver and gold in a concentrate. The Aguas Tenidas Mine is in
the Andalucia region of Spain approximately 110 km north-west of Seville and
operates a 2.2 million tonnes per year underground mine and concentrator that
produces copper, zinc and lead concentrates that also contain gold and silver.


Note 1 - The Cash Operating Cost per pound of payable copper is a non-IFRS
performance measure. It includes cash operating costs, including treatment and
refining charges ("TC/RC"), freight and distribution costs, and is net of
by-product metal credits (zinc, gold and silver). The Cash Operating Cost per
pound of payable copper indicator is consistent with the widely accepted
industry standard established by Brook Hunt and is also known as the C1 cash
cost.


FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and
"forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws. Except for
statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently
characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe",
"anticipate", "estimate", and other similar words, or statements that certain
events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward looking information may
include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial
or operating performances of the Corporation, its subsidiaries and their
respective projects, the timing and amount of estimated future production,
estimated costs of future production, capital, operating and exploration
expenditures, the future price of copper, gold and zinc, the estimation of
mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates,
the costs and timing of future exploration, requirements for additional capital,
government regulation of exploration, development and mining operations,
environmental risks, reclamation and rehabilitation expenses, title disputes or
claims, and limitations of insurance coverage. Forward-looking statements are
based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are
made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks
and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to
differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many
of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the
control of the Corporation and there is no assurance they will prove to be
correct. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results
anticipated by such forward-looking statements include changes in market
conditions and other risk factors discussed or referred to in the section
entitled "Risk Factors" in the Corporation's annual information form dated March
29, 2010. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors
that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from
those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that
cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended.
There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be
accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to
update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or
opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The
reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.


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