West Melville Commences Summer Exploration Program on the Fraser Bay Project, Nunavut

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 8, 2012) - West Melville Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:WMM) ("West Melville" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of exploration work at its Fraser Bay iron-ore project located on the west coast of the Melville Peninsula, Nunavut.

Crews mobilised to the project site on July 27 to commence building a 25 person camp at the former CAM 5 Defence Early Warning airstrip at Mackar Inlet. The airstrip is located 16 km northwest of the Fraser Bay Project and provides a strategic logistical base for the Project. Construction of the camp infrastructure is now complete and exploration work is underway.

The 2012 summer program is budgeted at $1.5 million and is scheduled to run until early-September. The objective of the program is to assess the direct ship ore (DSO) potential of the Project by completing an extensive channel sampling campaign over the full strike length of the banded iron formation. DSO is defined as high grade iron ore (typically >60% Fe) that can be mined and shipped directly to market without the need for on-site processing and thereby providing a low capital cost entry to production and a rapid path to cash flow.

"We are excited to follow up on the promising results achieved on the Fraser Bay Project in 2011. Last year West Melville completed a 60 metre channel sampling program that demonstrated the DSO potential of the Project by returning grades of up to 68.2% Fe over 1 metre and 61.6% Fe over 13 metres. The current program aims at completing ~2,000 metres of channel sampling over the entire 5.5 kilometre strike length of the banded iron formation and will allow for a more complete assessment of the DSO potential of project," stated Rory Moore, West Melville's, President & CEO.

The Fraser Bay Project

The Fraser Bay Property is located on the west side of the Melville Peninsula, 180 km southwest of the community of Hall Beach in Nunavut, Canada. It consists of a single mineral lease covering 3,228 acres that is favourably located 12 km from tidewater at Committee Bay and 120 km from a proposed deep water port at Roche Bay. The Property lies within 16 km of the CAM 5 airstrip at Mackar Inlet (a former Defence Early Warning site) and an all season road from the airstrip terminates less than 10 km from the Property boundary. This infrastructure provides a significant logistical benefit to the Project. The lease is currently owned by Roche Bay plc., with West Melville having an exclusive option to earn up to a 70% interest in the Property by meeting a series of work and expenditure commitments and making certain share payments.

About West Melville Metals Inc.

West Melville is an iron ore and specialty metals exploration company working to advance the Fraser Bay iron ore project in Nunavut and the Isortoq iron-titanium-vanadium project in Greenland. The Company has assembled an experienced management team with a track record of discovery success and a Board of Directors with expertise covering the essential fields of geology, engineering and finance. West Melville's projects offer a combination of low geological risk with significant upside potential in high demand commodity sectors.

Disclosure of a technical nature contained in this release has been reviewed and approved by Bruce Counts, P.Geoph. (Director of West Melville) who is the Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Rory O. Moore, Ph.D., President and CEO

West Melville Metals Inc.

West Melville Metals Inc. is a member of the Aurora Resource Group of companies. For more information please visit www.auroraresource.com.

Certain disclosures in this release, in particular the results of the 2012 exploration program and the DSO assessment of the Fraser Bay Project, constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to West Melville's operations as a mineral exploration company that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, including risks as to the completion of the plans and projects. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as required by applicable securities legislation, West Melville expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.