New Millennium Iron Corp. Announces the Completion of Drilling for the Year 2012 and Additional Drilling Results for Howells River North and Howells Lake Properties

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire - Dec. 20, 2012) - New Millennium Iron Corp. ("NML" or the "Corporation") (TSX:NML) announced today the completion of drilling for the year 2012. Drilling was carried out at several of its properties in the Millennium Iron Range ("MIR") (see Table 1 for details). The program started on March 2 and was completed on October 22, 2012. During this period 153 holes were drilled for a total of 17,312.6 m. The areas drilled in 2012 are shown in Figure 1. Additional drill results of the Howells Lake area (see Table 2), comprising the 100% NML owned Howells Lake property and the 80% (1) owned Howells River North, now confirm that this area is a stratigraphic continuation of the LabMag deposit and connects to the KéMag deposit in Québec. The combined area of Howells River North and Howells Lake is 24.5 km² with varying thicknesses due to a low angle thrust fault in the east side.

(1) Naskapi Labmag Trust through LabMag Limited Partnership (LLP) owns the other 20%.


Table 1

Property/Area 	Location 	No. of holes 	Total m
Perault Lake 	MIR 	48 	3,890.8
Sheps Lake 	MIR 	23 	1,920.1
Howells River N 	MIR 	10 	1,114.5
Howells Lake 	MIR 	43 	6,561.7
KéMag East 	MIR 	24 	3,315.5
Lac Keough 	East of MIR 	1 	102.0
Lac Thérèse 	East of MIR 	1 	102.0
Wishart Creek 	East of MIR 	3 	306.0
Total 		153 	17,312.6

Dean Journeaux, President and CEO of NML, said, "These results are very exciting because they confirm the presence of continuous mineralization from Perault Lake to KéMag, for an impressive strike length of 60 km. Not only is this a significant increase in the extent of mineralization but the quality is high and comparable to that of the LabMag and KéMag mineralization. Our exploration program continues to deliver promising results, and we now see that the Howells Lake area along with Sheps and Perault all have the potential to become major deposits in their own right. That would not only considerably increase our significant resource base, but also provide us with future development and operating options. We have also drilled on the east side of KéMag deposit in order to delineate a larger mineralized zone in that area. We will continue to issue drill results as they become available, and we plan to publish a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate in Q1, 2013."


Summary of 2012 Drill Program:

Sheps Lake and Perault Lake area (previously reported in news release NR 12-23, dated October 3, 2012):

The combined total area of both Sheps Lake and Perault Lake is approximately 17.25 km² with an average thickness of 60 m, where the taconite is un-altered giving excellent Davis Tube concentrate ("DTC") recoveries with very low concentrate silica values (less than 2.00%) and high Fe values (greater than 70.00%). The results from these properties indicate that the taconite is particularly suitable for production of direct reduction ("DR") grade pellet feed.

Howells River North and Howells Lake (drill hole locations are shown in the attached Figure 2):

The area outlined for drilling, based on the 2010 airborne magnetic survey, is approximately 7.0 km long and 3.5 km wide. In 2006, NML drilled one hole in the central part of the region, which indicated likelihood of the continuity of the stratigraphic units (see news release NR 11-25, dated August 11, 2011). Drill results now confirm that the taconite occurring in this area is a stratigraphic continuation of the LabMag deposit and connects to the KéMag deposit in QC.

The mineralized material occurs on either side of the Howells River. On the west side of the Howells River, the mineralized material occurs in a single relatively flat lying stratigraphic sequence similar to the LabMag and KéMag. On the east side, the sequence is repeated due to a low angle thrust fault, which pushed up a complete sequence of economic layers (LC to LRGC) and the underlying waste layers of LIF, RF and Quartzite over the LabMag band. Potentially, this has increased the iron bearing strata thickness by 2 to 2.5 times. However, this structural condition requires the removal of additional wastes in this area. Three cross sections 17, 21 and 25 from Howells Lake area with 6, 7 and 8 drill holes respectively are shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5.


KéMag East:

The 2010 airborne magnetic survey outlined an anomaly approximately 13 km long and 1 km wide on the east side of Lac Harris and Lac Gillespie. This area represents a folded and faulted sequence of the taconite formation separated by a thrust fault from KéMag Deposit. Twenty four (24) holes for a total of 3,315.5 m were drilled this fall in this area. The logging and magnetic susceptibility measurements of the drill cores indicate the presence of magnetic taconite of substantial size. The drill core assay results are awaited.


Other Properties

Only a limited amount of drilling was carried out in 2012 to explore the taconite potential at Lac Keough, Lac Thérèse and Wishart Creek. The results of analysis are awaited.


Drill Results:

Table 2 provides the average drill core analysis and assay results received to date. (Refer to Figure 2 - Drill hole location plan). The Table includes drill core results from Howells River North and Howells Lake areas, using a DTWR cut-off of 18.00%.


Table 2

Hole No.   Section   Interval m   Total Fe%   DTWR%   Concentrate Fe%   Concentrate SiO2%
Howells River North
12HR1283D 	01 	40.0 	30.19 	29.26 	70.43 	2.20
12HR1285D 	01 	64.0 	32.60 	30.10 	70.36 	2.16
12HR1286D 	01 	103.4 	31.07 	23.70 	70.12 	1.75
12HR1287D 	09 	21.8 	28.09 	27.40 	70.44 	1.97
12HR1288D 	09 	47.4 	32.41 	32.80 	68.81 	3.16
12HR1289D 	09 	109.1 	30.65 	32.74 	69.70 	2.27
12HR1302D 	09 	43.5 	30.89 	32.57 	69.73 	2.91
Howells Lake
12HR1290D 	13 	71.7 	31.41 	31.85 	70.33 	1.97
12HR1313D 	17 	245.2 	30.85 	32.51 	69.23 	3.20
12HR1314D 	17 	181.9 	31.35 	32.50 	69.62 	2.44
12HR1316D 	17 	94.2 	30.10 	31.84 	70.05 	2.29
12HR1304D 	17 	99.0 	31.11 	32.60 	70.63 	1.74
12HR1292D 	17 	40.5 	30.73 	33.20 	69.21 	3.12
12HR1309C 	21 	160.0 	29.83 	25.14 	69.32 	3.05
12HR1309B 	21 	34.7 	28.68 	22.23 	68.29 	3.86
12HR1306D 	21 	108.5 	31.89 	33.38 	68.59 	3.71
12HR1307D 	21 	38.2 	33.43 	22.02 	68.88 	2.64
12HR1301D 	21 	75.6 	31.63 	31.46 	70.13 	2.19
12HR1293D 	21 	24.2 	30.87 	33.20 	69.54 	2.81
12HR1294D 	21 	8.3 	28.55 	22.50 	70.28 	2.36
12HR1308D 	25 	214.0 	30.07 	28.10 	69.79 	2.90
12HR1305D 	25 	110.0 	29.31 	29.06 	69.36 	3.37
12HR1311D 	25 	105.9 	27.72 	28.14 	68.20 	3.63
12HR1303D 	25 	30.0 	27.41 	23.40 	66.37 	6.56
12HR1310D 	25 	95.3 	29.33 	29.01 	69.94 	2.22
12HR1295D 	25 	28.4 	31.75 	29.57 	70.29 	2.15
12HR1296D 	25 	15.3 	28.25 	24.01 	70.32 	2.37

The half drill core samples, on average 6 meters in length were sent to Midland Research Center ("MRC"), an Independent Laboratory at Nashwauk, Minnesota, USA for testing and analysis. The core is assayed for total iron. The magnetite concentrate is produced using the Davis Tube method and given as Davis Tube Weight Recovery percent ("DTWR%"). The magnetite concentrate is assayed for iron and silica. Some selected samples will be analyzed for other elements. Based on the drill core analysis received to date, the Howells River North taconite averages 31.09% Fe with 29.56% DTWR. The Davis Tube concentrate averages 69.91% Fe and 2.27% SiO2. The Howells Lake taconite averages 30.38% Fe with 29.89% DTWR. The Davis Tube concentrate averages 69.46% Fe and 2.89% SiO2.


About New Millennium

The Corporation controls the emerging Millennium Iron Range, located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the Province of Québec, which holds one of the world's largest undeveloped magnetic iron ore deposits. In the same area, the Corporation and Tata Steel Limited, one of the largest steel producers in the world, are advancing a DSO Project to near term production. Tata Steel Limited owns approximately 26.5% of New Millennium and is the Corporation's largest shareholder and strategic partner.

Tata Steel exercised its exclusive option to participate in the DSO Project and has a commitment to take the resulting production (see news release 10-16 dated September 14, 2010). The DSO Project is owned and operated by TSMC, which in turn is 80% owned by Tata Steel and 20% owned by NML. The DSO project contains 64.1 million tonnes of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves at an average grade of 58.8% Fe, 21.0 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources at an average grade of 59.2% Fe, 10.3 million tonnes of Inferred Resources at an average grade of 58.3% Fe and about 25.0 - 30.0 million tonnes of historical resources that are not currently in compliance with NI 43-101 (see news release 09-03 dated February 11, 2009, news release 09-05 dated March 4, 2009, news release 09-16 dated December 9, 2009, news release 10-12 dated July 8, 2010 and news release 12-14, dated May 31, 2012).A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves, the Corporation is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.

The Millennium Iron Range currently hosts two advanced projects: LabMag contains 3.5 billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at a grade of 29.6% Fe plus 1.0 billion tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at an average grade of 29.5% Fe and 1.2 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an average grade of 29.3% Fe (see news release 06-13 dated July 5, 2006 and news release 07-11 dated July 17, 2007); KéMag contains 2.1 billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at an average grade of 31.3% Fe, 0.3 billion tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at an average grade of 31.3 % Fe and 1.0 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an average grade of 31.2% Fe (see news release 09-01 dated January 16, 2009). Tata Steel also exercised its exclusive right to negotiate and settle a proposed transaction in respect of the LabMag Project and the KéMag Project (see news release 11-09 dated March 6, 2011).

The Millennium Iron Range now hosts another taconite deposit, Lac Ritchie located at its north end. The initial 2011 drilling of 40 holes in this property revealed Indicated Resources of 3.330 billion tonnes at an average grade of 30.3% Fe and 1.437 billion tonnes of Inferred Resources at 30.9% Fe (see news release NR 12-11, dated April 02, 2012).

The Corporation's mission is to add shareholder value through the responsible and expeditious development of the Millennium Iron Range and other mineral projects to create a new large source of raw materials for the world's iron and steel industries.

For further information, please visit www.NMLiron.com, www.tatasteel.com, www.tatasteelcanada.com, and www.tatasteeleurope.com.

Dean Journeaux, Eng., and Thiagarajan Balakrishnan, P. Geo., are the Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101 who have reviewed and verified the scientific and technical mining disclosure contained in this news release.

To view Figure 1, click the following link:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/nmlfig1.pdf

To view Figure 2, click the following link:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/nmlfig2.pdf

To view Figures 3-5, click the following link:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/nml35.pdf



Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management of the Corporation's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology.

By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Corporation's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 as 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. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.



Contact

New Millennium Iron Corp.
Dean Journeaux, President & CEO
(514) 935-3204

New Millennium Iron Corp.
Andreas Curkovic, Investor Relations
(416) 577-9927