Tara Minerals Signs Letter of Intent for the Start-Up of the Don Roman Gold, Silver, Zinc and Lead Mine and Mill

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - May 5, 2011) - Tara Minerals Corp. (OTCBB: TARM) (BERLIN: 6T3) is pleased to announce that it has granted to Springbok Development, LLC ("SD") and Claridge Hanlon Resource Engineering ("CHRE"), a division of Hanlon Engineering & Architecture Inc., an option to acquire up to an undivided forty-nine percent (49%) interest in and to all of the mining concessions known as the Don Roman grouping located in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico. The Don Roman grouping now totals approximately 10,000 hectares in close proximity to the existing mill, which includes the Don Roman, Centenario, and the newly acquired La Verdes concessions. The grouping lies 15 km SW of the historically prolific La Reforma silver/zinc/lead district. Key personnel from SD-CHRE have worked on Mining, Commercial, Government and Infrastructure projects for over 20-years.

The Letter of Intent is non-binding and requires SD-CHRE, as the mine and mill operator, to make a $250,000 cash payment to Tara Minerals within 45 days of the signing. To earn its 49% interest, SD-CHRE will incur a minimum of $2 million to start-up the existing mill and achieve a production rate of 120 tonnes per day within 120 days; incur another $2 million to achieve a production rate of 360 tonnes per day within 6 months; and incur an additional minimum $4 million to achieve and maintain a minimum production rate, as the parties may agree upon within the Definitive Agreement, not to be less than 480 tonnes per day, within twelve months.

The net revenue generated from the project will be shared on a 50% SD-CHRE and 50% Tara Minerals basis. The LOI envisions an assessment and design period of 45-60 days and a Definitive Agreement within 90 days.

Mr. Francis Biscan Jr., President of Tara Minerals Corp., commented, "We have endeavored to find a quality development partner with operating expertise, so we are very excited to have the knowledgeable team of SD-CHRE as a partner. They have the technical experience to efficiently develop, operate and expand the Don Roman mine and mill. The value of the rock within our concessions has the potential to generate material revenue for all parties. We are looking forward to a successful transition to a producer."

Tara Minerals mined the Don Roman concessions in 2009 from a 25 m thick zone dipping at approximately 30 degrees at average grades of 309 g/t silver, 9% zinc, and 3% lead. These concessions contain several other mineralized zones, including the San Felipe gold/silver vein just 1.5 km from the Don Roman mill. San Felipe has been outlined to 850 m length, 400 m at depth, and open in all directions. Channel samples averaged 10.06 g/t gold and 149.85 g/t silver.

The La Verdes gold, silver, zinc and lead concessions were being mined as late as 2010, with the extracted material grading 0.5-1.5 g/t gold, 300-600 g/t silver, 14-15% zinc, 6-8% lead, and 2.1-2.6% copper. Recent channel samples across the workings assayed similar grades. The concessions have 50 m of tunnels and 14 known showings of old workings. Numerous gold/silver/zinc/lead vein structures have been identified with three being well defined. These veins are approximately 1.5-8 meters wide and are comprised of 80% sulfides. The strike-length of some of these structures has already been traced to a combined total of over 5 km.

The Centenario concessions have the potential for several high-grade mineral systems. Samples to date returned two gold/copper systems -- 17 g/t gold, 7% copper and 350 g/t silver; and two silver/lead/zinc systems -- 400 g/t silver, 8% lead and 9% zinc. One structure has been traced for 5 km in strike, is approximately 5 m wide with surface sampling returning 350 g/t silver, 9% zinc, and 8% lead.

About Tara Minerals Corp. (http://www.TaraMinerals.com)

Tara Minerals Corp. is advancing the development of its Don Roman mine and mill, located in Choix, Mexico and completing the Definitive Agreement with Yamana Gold Inc. that grants Yamana an option to acquire up to a 70% interest in the Picacho gold/silver project. Management is focused on creating long-term shareholder value and deploying its capital to advance its projects by enhancing resources, further outlining new discoveries/targets, and acquiring additional strategic assets. Tara's strength in recognizing value early and strategy of reducing risk through a foundation of cash flow, positions it for low-risk value creation.

About Claridge Hanlon Resource Engineering (http://www.HanlonEngineering.com)

As a division of Hanlon Engineering & Archetecture Inc, CHRE is a full service, multi-disciplined engineering and architecture company with offices located in Tucson, Arizona; Phoenix, Arizona; Elko, Nevada; and now Reno, Nevada. SD-CHRE offers a complete engineering and design team that can handle projects from conception, through permitting, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. Hanlon Engineering & Architecture, Inc. was founded in 1999 in Tucson, Arizona and is now comprised of over 60 engineers and other technical staff company wide. Within the last 2 years, HEA has completed over 400 projects with a combined constructed value of over $600 million dollars for their clients.