CALGARY, ALBERTA — (Marketwire) — 04/17/12 — BACANORA MINERALS LTD. (TSX VENTURE:BCN) (the “Company” or “Bacanora”) is pleased to report the final results obtained from its second round of drilling at its “Ventana” lithium property located in eastern Sonora, Mexico, which consisted of 1,465 metres in 8 NQ-Core holes. The Company is also pleased to announce the launch of the third round of drilling at its 100% owned “Ventana” and “El Sauz” properties.

Final Second Round Results

Two mineralized lithium bearing sections have been identified, which are separated by a barren ignimbritic tuff that has been utilized as a marker bed. The average thickness and grade from the upper unit has been determined to be 11.38 metres at 2,833 ppm Li and the average thickness and grade of the lower unit is 19.08 metres at 4,069 ppm Li. All of the samples from the second round of drilling were submitted to ALS-Chemex Lab and analyzed for Lithium with a 4-acid digestion method. The results are summarized in Table 1 and the location of the holes is displayed in Figure 1 that accompanies this release.

TABLE 1 – Summary of Mineralized Intercepts in La Ventana Target (Second round of drilling)

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                            Thickness

HOLE_ID   From (m)   To (m)        (m)  Li (ppm)  Li2CO3%               Note

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LV-05       21.64    80.47      58.83      2698     1.43     Overall samples

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Upper Zone  21.64       32      10.36      2697     1.44    Minimum 2000 ppm

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Upper Zone  36.58    46.63      10.06      3424     1.82    Minimum 2000 ppm

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Lower Zone  60.35    80.47      20.12      4520     2.41    Minimum 2000 ppm

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LV-06        3.96    67.97      64.01      1394     0.74     Overall samples

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Upper Zone  15.85    30.78      14.94      3120     1.66    Minimum 2000 ppm

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Lower Zone  46.18    67.97      21.79      3538     1.89    Minimum 2000 ppm

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LV-08       67.89   113.69       45.8      1578     0.84     Overall samples

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Upper Zone  67.89    74.07       6.17      2676     1.43    Minimum 2000 ppm

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Lower Zone  98.45   113.69      15.24      3131     1.67    Minimum 2000 ppm

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LV-09       77.42    93.88      16.46      1443     0.77    Minimum 1000 ppm

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LV-10       101.5   118.26      16.76      1148     0.61    Minimum 1000 ppm

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Third Round Drilling Program

Bacanora’s third lithium drilling campaign contemplates approximately 2,000 metres of drilling in 10 NQ-Core drill holes at the Ventana property (see Figure 1 for a map of third round drilling targets). The objective at Ventana is to further evaluate the continuity of the encountered lithium bearing clays, both laterally and down dip as the deposit has been confirmed to be approximately 3,000 x 300 metres wide, to a depth of 200 metres. The third round drilling campaign has been designed to produce a 400 m spaced grid capable of being used for generating a resource of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).

At the El Sauz property this campaign contemplates approximately 500 metres of exploratory drilling in 2 NQ-Core drill holes. The objective at El Sauz is to test the mineralization discovered during previous exploration activities, which revealed a continuous 120+ metre thick volcano-sedimentary section exposed in a semi-mountainous area that covered 1,200 X 400 metres in several outcrops. During this prior program a total of 125 samples were collected, which averaged 1,000 ppm lithium (with samples up to 7,220 ppm) and also contained a potassium average of 0.5% (min 0.26%, max 3.07%).

Along with the drilling, exploration activities (mapping and systematic sampling) continue on other lithium target areas such as Buenavista and San Gabriel, which are owned 100% by Bacanora. Field crews are currently working on road and drill pad construction and access to water supply and the Company expects to start drilling by the fourth week of April. Results of the drilling and the exploration activities will be presented upon completion of this phase of our drilling program.

Paul Conroy, President and CEO, states: “We are very pleased with the advancements made during our second round of drilling at Ventana and look forward to conducting our third round of drilling and exploration on each of our lithium properties, all with a view towards our goal of generating a National Instrument 43-101 compliant Lithium Carbonate Equivalent resource encompassing one or more of these properties.”

Martin Vidal, Professional Geoscientist, is the Qualified Person for this news release and has reviewed and approved its contents.

To view the map associated with this release, please see the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/417bcn.pdf

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