VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 5, 2011) - Zena Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ZCC) ("Zena" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed its 2011 exploration program on its Lapin Barite property situated near Rock Creek, B.C. The Company owns 100% of the rights to the Industrial Minerals subject to a 10% net profits interest and royalty and other payments based on production to the original underlying vendors. Barite, the primary industrial mineral on this property, is a major component and the weighting agent used in drilling mud for the oil and gas industry's exploration and developmental drilling programs. Zena has a permit for exploration and a small bulk sample.

In 2010 Zena explored the "B" zone deposit by excavator stripping, mapping, and diamond sawing representative samples. Stripping exposed an area roughly 40 by 20 meters which contains at least five zones of Barite, of which the most important is the Main zone, exposed over a strike length of 20 meters and up to 10 meters wide. This zone is open to the north.

In September 2011, additional areas in the "B" zone were stripped, and argillic sediments were removed from the east wall of the Main zone. An excavator with a rock-breaker was used to expose the barite along its length, and about 200 tonnes of barite was set aside from which 20 tonnes was mined and trucked to a storage site in Rock Creek, B.C. From the "B" zone, 26 barite samples each from 1-5 kg in size (averaging 3 kg) were collected from four separate areas and shipped to ALS Minerals Laboratory (ISO 17025 accredited) in North Vancouver, where Specific Gravity measurements were completed.

The twenty-six samples from the Main Zone had specific gravity ranging from 3.63 to 5.77, with a weighted average of 4.245. A minimum specific gravity of 4.10 is required for Barite used as a weighting medium for drilling mud.

The property has at present three known zones with Barite mineralization, known as "A", "B" and "C" zones. Past exploration including trenching and drilling at the "A" zone established a Barite deposit with grades above or near the specific gravity threshold of 4.10. A NI 43-101 compliant measured resource of 5,800 tonnes with specific gravity of 4.25 and an inferred resource of 10,000 tonnes averaging specific gravity of 3.93 was estimated for the "A" zone by Godfrey Walton P.Geo. (2003).

The Company's 2012 planned exploration program, with a cost budget to be approximately the same as the 2011 program, includes the stripping of the northern limits of the Barite lenses in the "B" zone, with the possibility of producing a larger test sample. The Company may also include in the exploration program further review of the "A" zone.

This press release has been reviewed by Barry J. Price, M.Sc., P,Geo., an independent consultant based in Vancouver, B.C. Mr. Price supervised the stripping and sampling program and prepared the 2010 Technical Report.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Kevin Hanson, Director

Contributing Sources

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