CHICAGO, IL — (Marketwire) — 07/18/12 — Tara Minerals Corp. (OTCBB: TARM) (BERLIN: 6T3) is pleased to announce that work is under way to develop a district wide production plan. Tara currently has 100% ownership in over 25,770 acres in the Don Roman district. The first district project to reach commercial production is expected to be the Champinon iron ore property. The cash flow from this initial 2012 production project will be leveraged to mine the known gold, silver, zinc and lead veins within the district.

Steve Eady, Chief Geologist at Tara Minerals, commented, “I have been in mining since 1973 and have worked in some large-scale mining projects around the world. It is intellectually stimulating to work within a district of this size and geological potential. I joined Tara because I believe I can assemble the puzzle, from the known pieces, that make up this district. In addition to the iron ore structures, Tara has already discovered more than 30 distinct gold/silver/zinc/lead/copper structures, within 8 km diameter of the mill. We will use any near-term production cash flow, and the knowledge, from the known mineralization to track backwards to find the larger bodies that surely exist. Iron ore production from Champinon is only the first step in this journey. I am looking forward to leveraging the resources that Champinon will make available to us. The appealing part of Tara’s development strategy is that with cash flow derived from these known puzzle pieces, we can minimize dilution while we continue to learn more about what the district is hiding!”

Tara began acquiring within the district in October 2006. In 2009 Tara began mining silver, zinc and lead from a 25 m thick zone. The Don Roman mining and processing is currently suspended so that Tara can improve recovery, expand the mill, and develop a mining plan that considers all the mineralized sources found since the original discovery.

• The centrally located Don Roman mill was completed in 2009 and is designed with three identical, 120 tonnes per day, independent processing circuits to provide flexibility in processing rates and to allow parallel processing of different ore types. The existing plant can be put back into production within a short time frame. Previous engineering work has confirmed that the capacity can be expanded to 2,000+ tonnes per day, over time, on the available footprint.


• The 370 acres Champinon iron ore property is advancing towards 2012 production. The host structure has been estimated, through surface mapping and sampling, to be at least 40 m wide, 1.5 km in length and open in all directions. Surface grab samples, from the high-grade zone, returned assays ranging from 62.0% to 68.9% iron ore. Initial analysis indicates the potential for favorable operating margins and substantial growth in the available tonnage.


• There are many old workings and outcrops in the area immediately adjoining the mill. Tara was mining from two silver/zinc/lead veins. Vein #1 assayed 309 g/t silver, 9% zinc, and 3% lead. Vein #2 assayed 770 g/t silver, 27% zinc, and 11% lead. Additional veins have also been discovered with one assaying 1.47 g/t gold, 400 g/t silver, 7.48% zinc, and 4.92% lead. The tonnage potential of these veins is substantial.


• There are also attractive gold prospects within the district. The best understood of these is San Felipe, located 1.5 km from the mill. Channel samples returned an average grade of 10.06 g/t gold and 149.85 g/t silver. The structure has a known strike length of approximately 850 m and an exposed vertical height of approximately 400 m. The vein remains open both along strike and at depth.


• The La Verdes gold, silver, zinc and lead project consists of eight concessions 13-18 km from the Don Roman mine and mill. The concessions have 50 m of tunnels, 14 known showings of old workings, and were being mined as late as 2010. The extracted material assayed 0.5-1.5 g/t gold, 300-600 g/t silver, 14-15% zinc, 6-8% lead, and 2.1-2.6% copper. Recent channel samples across the workings assayed similar grades. The combined strike length of some of these structures have already been traced to over 5 km. A road from the groupings, to the Don Roman mill, has also been completed.


• The Centenario gold and iron concessions are located 9 km to the north and have several high-grade mineral systems identified. Samples to date returned two gold/copper systems assaying 17 g/t gold, 7% copper and 350 g/t silver; and two silver/lead/zinc systems assaying 400 g/t silver, 8% lead and 9% zinc. One structure has been traced for 5 km in strike, is approximately 5 m wide with surface sampling returning 350 g/t silver, 9% zinc, and 8% lead.


• The El Oro iron ore project is also located within 10 km of the Don Roman mill. El Oro has previously sampled as high as 60+% iron ore, 6 g/t gold and 4% copper. El Oro has the potential for substantial tonnage within the aggregate structure length of 5+km identified with an expected depth of 150+ m.

Mineralization at the district falls into two categories. The first is the skarn type mineralization and the second type is moderately to steeply dipping gold-bearing quartz veins in shear zones. Zinc skarns commonly occur in continental settings associated with subduction and extensional faulting, which is the case in Sinaloa. These skarns are generally high grade with zinc/lead grades of 10 to 20% and silver in the 30 to 300 g/t range. It is very common to find substantial silver/zinc/lead skarn deposits peripheral to porphyry copper systems.

The Don Roman district mineralization appears to fit these criteria in terms of metal grades and in that it is peripheral to a strong porhpyry system and is likely genetically related to the nearby Santo Tomas porphyry copper.

About Tara Minerals Corp. (http://www.TaraMinerals.com)

Tara Minerals Corp. is focused on advancing its gold/silver/zinc/lead Don Roman mine and mill and its iron ore projects located in Mexico. Management is creating long-term shareholder value and deploying its capital to advance its projects by enhancing resources, further outlining new discoveries/targets, and acquiring additional strategic assets. Tara’s strength in recognizing value early and strategy of reducing risk through a foundation of cash flow, positions it for low-risk value creation.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein which are not historical are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, certain delays beyond the Company’s control with respect to market acceptance of new technologies or products, delays in testing and evaluation of products, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please read the full disclaimer at www.TaraMinerals.com (http://taraminerals.com/English/General/Disclaimer/default.aspx).