Excelsior Intersects 0.45% Copper Over 960 Feet

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 22, 2011) -

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE US OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRE SERVICES

Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:MIN) ("Excelsior") is pleased to announce the first set of assay results from the Gunnison Copper Property located within the copper porphyry belt in southern Arizona. The 2011 Phase I program consists of 10,000 meters (32,800 feet) of drilling and preliminary hydrological and metallurgical tests.

Highlights from the first three holes include:

Drill Hole		From (feet)	To (feet)	Length (feet)	Total Copper %
NSD – 1		530.0	1490.0	960.0	0.45
	including	530.0	932.5	402.5	0.59
NSD – 3		563.0	1543.6	980.6	0.28
	including	1360.0	1543.6	183.6	0.44
NSD – 12		422.0	900.0	478.0	0.27
	including	422.0	744.5	322.5	0.35

Please note that the holes were not drilled in sequence.

Gunnison contains a National Instrument (NI) 43-101 inferred resource of 4.77 billion pounds of copper (787 million tons at 0.30% copper) which remains open for expansion (see news release dated November 2, 2010). The first three holes continue to demonstrate the continuity in terms of thickness and grade of the deposit and are expected to be used in upgrading the resource from the inferred to the indicated category. NSD-01 and NSD-03 also help define the western extent of the copper mineralization.

"We are excited to have started this drill program with such great results," says Stephen Twyerould, President and CEO of Excelsior. "Not only are the grades and thickness as we expected or better, but the core is very nicely fractured, which is key for developing this as an in-situ copper recovery project."

Over two-thirds of the copper contained in the NI 43-101 resource occurs as oxide copper, which has the potential to be mined using in-situ recovery (ISR) methods. The fractured nature of the deposit (see photo on left) allows for fluid to move through and extract the copper before being pumped back up to the surface. For further details on the ISR process and its advantages, please visit: http://excelsiormining.com/e/in-siturecovery.php 

Complete assay highlights with drill plan map are posted on the Excelsior website at: http://excelsiormining.com/e/gunnison.php.

All samples are prepared from manually split half-core sections on site in Arizona. Split drill core samples are then sent to Skyline Assayers & Laboratories in Tucson, Arizona for Total Copper and Sequential Copper analyses. Standards, blanks, and duplicate assays are included at regular intervals in each sample batch submitted from the field as part of an ongoing Quality Assurance/Quality Control Program.

Excelsior's exploration work on the Gunnison Property is supervised by Stephen Twyerould, Fellow of AUSIMM, President and CEO of Excelsior and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Twyerould has reviewed and is responsible for the technical information contained in this news release.

About Excelsior

Excelsior is an exploration and development company with a copper project located within the copper porphyry belt of Arizona. The Gunnison Copper Project is located close to the required infrastructure and with its in-situ recovery potential, is intended for near-term production. The Excelsior team consists of experienced professionals with proven track records of advancing projects towards production.

Further details about Excelsior can be found on Excelsior's website at: http://www.excelsiormining.com.

To view the photo associated with this press release, please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/e321.pdf

ON BEHALF OF THE EXCELSIOR BOARD

Stephen Twyerould, President & CEO

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation; statements about the production potential of the Gunnison Copper Project are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mineral exploration; fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume and the additional risks identified the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and Excelsior undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.