MRK Merc International Minerals Inc.

TORONTO, Feb. 8 /CNW/ -- TORONTO, Feb. 8 /CNW/ - Merc International Minerals Inc. (TSX-V:MRK) ("Merc") announced today that it has received all government permits necessary to begin drilling its recently acquired Treasure Island Gold Project located approximately 230 kilometres north of Yellowknife,  Northwest Territories.  The permits are valid until 2016 and cover Merc's entire land position within the Indin Lake Gold Camp (approximately 61,000 acres or 25,000 hectares).  Merc is currently constructing a drill camp at Treasure Island and estimates it will be operational by late February.  Two diamond drills and fuel are currently on site, which will allow the drilling of the gold targets at Treasure Island to begin in early March. "We are extremely pleased with the milestones we have achieved at Merc over the past two quarters.  Over that period we have added exceptional people to our team, focused Merc's efforts on a Northwest Territories regional gold play, and grown our footprint in the region 16 fold from approximately 3,810 acres or 1,287 hectares to a little over 61,000 acres or 25,000 hectares.  Merc has methodically increased its number of gold targets via acquisition and staking in areas where there is an abundance of historic data including former mining and drill data from the 1940's, the 1980's, and the 1990's. With our permits in hand, we can now focus on executing an aggressive exploration program with drilling expected to commence within the next 30 days.  We look forward to sharing the results," said David Wiley, President and CEO of Merc.  Located 35 kilometres northeast of the Damoti Lake Gold Project, the Treasure Island mineralized corridor represents a high priority target for Merc as it contains the Treasure Island gold deposit as well as several additional gold showings along its 6 kilometre strike length. The main deposit is made up of at least five parallel, mineralized gold zones within a highly altered and silicified 200 metre wide envelope, up to 230 metres in strike with a reported historical grade from 5.2 g/t up to 12.6 g/t.  Zones remain open in all dimensions.  The style of mineralization is analogous to typical Archean lode gold camps such as Timmins, Red Lake, and Kirkland Lake. Mineralization similar to Treasure Island's main zone (historical drill intercepts of 34.0 g/t over 1.1 metres and surface trench samples up to 73.2 g/t) has been reported to the east and west highlighting the opportunities available within the corridor.  Additionally, Merc is currently working on advancing its other regional targets towards the drill stage; some of which are described below. Other High Priority Targets The North Inca and Diversified Gold Deposits Both deposits, 1.2 kilometres apart, lie within a 6.5 kilometre shear zone. A shaft was sunk on each with some exploratory lateral development along the mineralized shear. Gold is mainly associated with quartz-carbonate veining parallel to the main shear, while higher grade mineralization is reported over narrow widths in tension fractures.  Merc is currently compiling the historical data and building a geological model. Target areas have been identified showing the potential to develop a resource that links the two mines along strike. The mineralization is also open at depth as historical drilling below 300 metres intersected comparable mineralization and grades. JPK Gold Property The property lies east of Treasure Island within an iron formation, similar to Merc's Damoti Lake Gold deposit, and the former producing Lupin Gold Mine.  Historical surface sampling along a 550 metre section of the iron formation returned assays ranging from 5.0 g/t Au to 15.6 g/t Au. No drilling has been reported for this area, and as such, JPK represents a primary target to be tested in 2011. Echo-Indin Gold Property Historical work at Echo-Indin included channel samples from trenches that returned gold values up to 31.5 g/t Au. Thirty-one historical holes were drilled intersecting two quartz stock-work mineralized zones with an average grade of 9.3 g/t Au. In 1988, re-sampling of five trenches exposed a north trending mineralized zone roughly 100 metres by 30 metres. Assay highlights include channel samples over 1.0 metre returning values up to 7.0 g/t Au with higher grades of 17.4 g/t Au and 11.1 g/t Au over 1.0 metre intervals reported.  About Merc International Mining Merc is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on acquiring and developing gold mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Its primary land position covers approximately 61,000 acres or 25,000 hectares in the Indin Lake Gold Camp, located approximately 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Merc Director, Dr. Michael J. Byron, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Merc, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, currency fluctuations, dependency upon regulatory approvals, the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2011/08/c8755.html pbDavid/bbWiley, President and CEO/bbr/ Merc International Minerals Inc. br/ (647) 260-1247br/ (416) 363-4567 (FAX) br/ Email: a href="mailto:dwiley@mercinternational.ca"dwiley@mercinternational.ca/a/p pb- or -/b/p pbMehdi Azo/bbdi, Vice President Investor Relations /bbr/ Merc International Minerals Inc. br/ (416) 779-3268 br/ (416) 363-4567 (FAX) br/ Email: a href="mailto:mazodi@mercinternational.ca"mazodi@mercinternational.ca/a/p

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