Verde Potash Increases Drilled Surface Area by 2200% at Cerrado Verde

Intersecting above cut-off grade mineralization on 37 of 40 holes

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Verde Potash (TSX VENTURE:NPK) ("Verde" or the "Company") is pleased to report high grade, wide potash ("K2O") drill intersections from surface including 62m @ 10.3% K2O, 46m @ 10.4% K2O and 36m @ 11% K2O. Drilling has successfully extended high grade potash mineralization in all new targets (see figures 1 and 2 below) tested at the Cerrado Verde Potash Project, located in Minas Gerais State, Brazil.

Potash mineralization has been defined over an area approximately 100 x 10 km to date. Of the 26,000m of reverse circulation ("RC") drilling planned, 8,950m (143 holes) have been completed using three RC rigs drilling between a 200m to 400m spaced grid to determine the thickness and strike extent of the mineralization. So far, the Company has received results for 40 drill holes. A diamond core ("DC") drilling rig is also being utilized to enable structural and bulk density data to be collected along with twinning a number of RC holes with DC to validate the two drilling and sampling methods being utilized. Verde is also carrying out a program of detailed geological mapping over the entire area of potash rich rock occurrences covered by its mineral titles.

The Company expects to finalize drilling by the third quarter of 2011. The current program has two objectives: a) to significantly increase the tonnage and confidence of the current inferred resource estimate and b) to upgrade resources to a measured and indicated category sufficient to support a potential ThermoPotash operation with a mine life of 30 years under the 2.2 Million tonnes production scenario presented in SRK's Preliminary Economic Assessment filed with SEDAR on December 13, 2010.


Significant Results Returned from RC drilling

All the RC and DC samples have been screened by analysing with a portable Innov-X Delta X-ray fluorescence (XRF) gun on site. Samples showing >6% K2O are then sent to the SGS Laboratory located in Belo Horizonte ("SGS"). Verde also includes a comprehensive internal quality control program which includes analysing field duplicates, blanks and certified Geostats standards at a rate of 5%.

SGS has delivered the results for the first 40 RC drill holes. The results for Targets 4 and 6 (29 holes in the potash rock unit representing a surface area of 2.7 km2) and Target 7 (8 holes in the potash rock unit within an area of 18.0 km2) are presented below (a 7.5% K2O cut off has been applied). Out of 40 drill holes, only 3 showed grades below cut off. Previously, Verde's existing inferred resource of 105.1Mt grading 10.3% K2O using a 7.5% cut-off was drilled out over a surface area of 0.9 km2 (See Release March 8, 2010).


TARGET 7 SGS ANALYTICAL RESULTS

Hole	Thickness (m)	Interval (m)	K2O (%)
CV-RC-141	62	surface - 62	10.3
CV-RC-143	26	14- 40	10.0
CV-RC-145	32	18- 50	11.0
CV-RC-146	28	surface - 28	10.2
CV-RC-147	30	surface - 30	10.1
CV-RC-148	46	surface - 46	10.4
CV-RC-149	36	surface - 36	11.0
CV-RC-153	38	12- 50	9.0

TARGETS 4 AND 6 SGS ANALYTICAL RESULTS

Hole	Thickness (m)	Interval (m)	K2O (%)
CV-RC-001	12	32- 44	10.5
CV-RC-002	40	6- 46	9.3
CV-RC-003	12	12- 24	9.1
CV-RC-004	10	6- 16	8.6
CV-RC-005	38	15- 53	9.0
CV-RC-006	12	surface - 12	9.0
CV-RC-007	12	4- 16	9.0
CV-RC-009	14	surface - 14	9.1
CV-RC-010	11	8 - 19	8.0
CV-RC-011	14	surface - 14	10.1
CV-RC-012	8	surface - 8	9.1
CV-RC-013	18	surface - 18	8.5
CV-RC-015	12	38- 50	10.1
CV-RC-016	39	12- 51	8.2
CV-RC-017	24	8- 32	8.0
CV-RC-019	14	32- 46	9.1
CV-RC-020	26	18- 44	10.1
CV-RC-021	42	8- 50	9.5
CV-RC-022	21	surface - 21	10.0
CV-RC-023	30	8- 38	8.1
CV-RC-024	52	12- 64	9.6
CV-RC-025	16	16- 32	9.3
CV-RC-026	38	18- 56	9.1
CV-RC-027	20	44- 64	9.4
CV-RC-028	78	12- 90	9.1
CV-RC-029	48	26- 74	9.8
CV-RC-030	22	surface - 22	9.0

Commenting, President & CEO, Cristiano Veloso, said: "These encouraging results continue to support our belief that the area has the potential to become one of the world's largest and most unique potash deposits given its wide, high grade and continuous mineralization from surface. On behalf of Verde, I want to thank our Head of Exploration, Ysao Munemassa, and his team for the fantastic work being carried out at Cerrado Verde".

Previously, in 2009 and 2010, Verde carried out a RC drilling program with 19 holes for a total of 997m completed in the Funchal Norte Target of the Cerrado Verde Potash Project. An Inferred Resource was then estimated for a total of 105 million tonnes at 10.3% K2O using a 7.5% K2O cut-off (see release dated March 8, 2010).


Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been prepared by Mr. Beau Nicholls, MAIG, Consulting Geologist, who is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101.


About Verde Potash

Verde Potash, founded and led by Brazilians, is a fertilizer exploration and development company. It is developing Cerrado Verde project in Brazil, a source of potash-rich rock from which Verde plans to produce a slow-release, non-chloride, multi-nutrient, fertilizer product named ThermoPotash. Founded as Amazon Mining in 2005, the Company changed its name to Verde Potash in April 2011 to better reflect its main business. The Company is also exploring for phosphate and limestone.


On behalf of the Board of Directors of Verde Potash


Cristiano Veloso
President and CEO.



To view Figure 1: Verde Potash, RC & DC Drilling Program, Intermediate Block and Figure 2: Verde Potash, RC & DC Drilling Program, Southern Block, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/695149_figures.pdf



Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements

THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTAINS CERTAIN "FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS", WHICH INCLUDE BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, STATEMENTS WITH RESPECT TO THE FUTURE FINANCIAL OR OPERATING PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPANY, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND ITS PROJECTS, STATEMENTS REGARDING USE OF PROCEEDS, EXPLORATION PROSPECTS, IDENTIFICATION OF MINERAL RESERVES, COSTS OF AND CAPITAL FOR EXPLORATION PROJECTS, EXPLORATION EXPENDITURES, TIMING OF FUTURE EXPLORATION AND PERMITTING, REQUIREMENTS FOR ADDITIONAL CAPITAL, GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS OF MINING OPERATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS, RECLAMATION EXPENSES, TITLE DISPUTES OR CLAIMS, AND LIMITATIONS OF INSURANCE COVERAGE. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS CAN GENERALLY BE IDENTIFIED BY THE USE OF WORDS SUCH AS "PLANS", "EXPECTS", OR "DOES NOT EXPECT" OR "IS EXPECTED", "ANTICIPATES" OR "DOES NOT ANTICIPATE", OR "BELIEVES", "INTENDS", "FORECASTS", "BUDGET", "SCHEDULED", "ESTIMATES" OR VARIATIONS OF SUCH WORDS OR PHRASES OR STATE THAT CERTAIN ACTIONS, EVENT, OR RESULTS "MAY", "COULD", "WOULD", "MIGHT", OR "WILL BE TAKEN", "OCCUR" OR "BE ACHIEVED". FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES AND OTHER FACTORS WHICH MAY CAUSE THE ACTUAL RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMPANY TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM ANY FUTURE RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED BY SAID STATEMENTS. THERE CAN BE NO ASSURANCES THAT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS WILL PROVE TO BE ACCURATE, AS ACTUAL RESULTS AND FUTURE EVENTS COULD DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE ANTICIPATED IN SAID STATEMENTS. ACCORDINGLY, READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.

Readers are cautioned not to rely solely on the summary of such information contained in this release and are directed to the complete set of drill results posted on Verde's website (www.verdepotash.com) and filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and any future amendments to such. Readers are also directed to the cautionary notices and disclaimers contained herein.

NEITHER 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.



Contact Information

Verde Potash
Cristiano Veloso
President & Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0) 20 8133 7607
+44(0)20 7405 7773 (FAX)
cv@verdepotash.com

Verde Potash
Jed Richardson
VP Corporate Development
+1(416)866-2966
+1(416)866-8829 (FAX)
jed@verdepotash.com
www.verdepotash.com