Matamec Pilot Plant Operations Commence

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - June 4, 2012) - Matamec Explorations Inc. ("Matamec" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:MAT)(OTCQX:MHREF) is pleased to announce that the mineral processing pilot plant operations for its flagship Kipawa rare earth project have commenced.

Press Release Highlights:

• Pilot plant operations have commenced in an independent laboratory to validate previous test results, but in a continuous manner and on a larger scale;
  
  
• The product of the pilot plant, the concentrate, will be used for the second pilot work scheduled to commence in early Q3 2012.
  
  

The mineral processing pilot plant was successfully commissioned last week at SGS Minerals Services. The plant consists of crushing and grinding circuits, followed by 2 stages of magnetic separation. The two main goals of the pilot plant are to validate the process on a larger scale and to generate sufficient feed for downstream hydrometallurgical work.

In the course of the next 3 weeks, 15 tonnes of ore will be treated continuously to produce approximately 5 tonnes of mineral concentrate. This mineral concentrate will be fed into the hydrometallurgical pilot plant to generate a mixed rare earth concentrate final product. The hydrometallurgical pilot work is scheduled to commence in early Q3 2012.

"The processing of rare earth ore is the biggest obstacle when developing a rare earth project." says André Gauthier, the president of Matamec, "Matamec and the SGS technical team have worked diligently for more than 2 years to develop a new process that is both simple and low cost. We are extremely pleased to successfully progress into the pilot plant phase in the development of Kipawa. Now with the added expertise provided by Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) network, Matamec is geared to fast-track the Kipawa rare earth project to production."

Bertho Caron, V-P Project Development & Construction (Eng.) and Eliza Ngai, Metallurgist (P.Eng) are Matamec's Qualified Person for this press release.

About Matamec

Matamec Explorations Inc is a junior mining exploration company whose main focus is in developing the Kipawa deposit and exploring more than 35km of strike length in the Kipawa Alkalic Complex for rare earths-yttrium-zirconium-niobium-tantalum mineralization on its Zeus property.

The company is also exploring for gold, base metals and platinum group metals. Its gold portfolio includes the Matheson JV property located along strike and in close proximity to the Hoyle Pond Mine in the prolific mining camp of Timmins, Ontario.

In Quebec, the Company is exploring for lithium and tantalum on its Tansim property and for precious and base metals on its Sakami, Valmont and Vulcain properties. As well, it is exploring for gold together with Northern Superior Resources Inc. on the Lesperance/Wachigabau property.