Assay Results Confirm Additional High Grade Boulders at Patterson Lake South

TSX VENTURE SYMBOL:  AMW 

VANCOUVER, Jan. 2, 2013 /CNW/ - Alpha Minerals Inc ("Alpha" or "the Company"), and its 50% Joint Venture (JV) partner, Fission Energy Corp. (Fission), are pleased to announce the assay results from its September 2012 boulder prospecting program. Assays of 37 glacially transported rocks, ranging in size from 1cm to 30cm, were reported, while 3 samples had insufficient material mass to conduct an assay.

Highlights of the results are as follows:

• 54% of the high grade boulders returned grades over 10% U₃O_8, with the highest grade sample assaying at 40.0 % U₃O₈
• 78% of the samples returned grades > 1% U₃O₈

A complete summary of the uranium assays, boulder sizes and sample depths and a location map can be found on the Company's website: www.alphaminerals.ca

The 2012 discoveries expand the high-grade uranium boulder field delineated by prospecting and trenching in 2011. The 2012 work also identified a new area, extending the original area by up to 800m to the west and 2.5km to the southwest.  Several of the known uranium deposits and mines in the Athabasca Basin have been located by searching "up ice" (the direction from which the last glacial ice carved across the bedrock surface) to locate the source. The deposits and/or mines of Cluff Lake, Key Lake and Midwest Lake are amongst those discoveries. According to current research, the PLS boulder field appears to be the largest area of such mineralized boulders in the Athabasca Basin. The extension of the boulder field to the south-west may represent debris from another mineralized source in the up-ice direction.

Planning is underway for a two part drill program during the 2013 winter. An aggressive focus will be made in the area of the recent bedrock discovery of high grade uranium to develop a better measure of the size and grade of the mineralized area (see news release Dec 05 2012). Much of this drilling will be from lake ice and will look for extensions of the 2012 discovery and the exposure of high grade uranium mineralization in the bedrock surface, at shallow depths beneath the very young (15,000 to 10,000 years old) glacial sediments, which was the source of the large uranium boulder field.

A wider ranging drill program is contemplated to test several priority geophysical targets that were identified during the 2011-2012 airborne and ground geophysical programs. Further ground work will refine these targets for drill testing.

The boulder and soil samples were analyzed by SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories (an SCC ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accredited Facility) of Saskatoon.

The uranium assays from surface rock sampling should not be averaged to determine the average grade of the boulder field as by its very nature each sample represents a point sample of differing mass that has been located with a scintillometer and hand digging to excavate the sample. These samples are surrounded by large amounts of un-mineralized material and may not be representative of the grade of surrounding material.

Patterson Lake South Property

The 31,039 hectare PLS project is a 50%/50% Joint Venture held by Fission Energy Corp. and Alpha Minerals Inc. Fission is the Operator of the Joint Venture. PLS is accessible by road with primary access from all-weather Highway 955, which runs north to the former Cluff Lake mine, (>60M lbs of U3O8 produced), and passes close to the UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 50km to the north, currently under active exploration and development. An updated map highlighting the assay results from its boulder prospecting program at PLS can be found on the Company's website at www.alphaminerals.ca.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Benjamin Ainsworth, P.Eng BC/SK. President of Alpha Minerals Inc. and a Qualified Person.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alpha Minerals Inc.

"Ben Ainsworth"  
President, CEO and Director

This press release contains "forward-looking information" that is based on Alpha's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements with respect to Alpha's development plans. The words "will", "anticipated", "plans" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Alpha's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related exploration and development; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund exploration and development; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in input costs; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or inability to obtain permits encountered in connection with exploration activities; and labour relations matters. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Alpha disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Alpha Minerals Inc.