Adoption of Shareholder Rights Plan

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISSEMINATION TO US NEWS WIRE SERVICES.

13 March 2012

Aureus Mining Inc.

TSX: AUE

AIM: AUE

AureUs Mining Inc.

Aureus Mining Inc. Announces the Adoption of Shareholder Rights Plan

Aureus Mining Inc. ("Aureus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the board of directors of the Company has adopted a shareholder protection rights plan (the "Rights Plan"), effective March 13, 2012. The objective of the Rights Plan is to ensure, to the extent possible, that all shareholders of the Company are treated equally and fairly in connection with any initiative to acquire control of the Company.

The Rights Plan is not intended to and will not prevent a take-over of the Company. The purpose of the Rights Plan is to encourage a potential bidder to make a "Permitted Bid", having terms and conditions designed to meet the objectives of the Rights Plan, or to negotiate the terms of an offer with the board of directors of the Company. A Permitted Bid is a take-over bid that is made to all holders of voting shares of the Company (other than the bidder) for all of the voting shares held by them, by way of a take-over bid circular prepared in compliance with applicable securities laws, that remains open for acceptance by shareholders of the Company for 60 days (or such shorter period of time as may be approved by the board of directors of the Company from time to time), and that satisfies certain other conditions.

The Rights Plan must be confirmed by shareholders within six months of its effective date. The Company intends to submit the Rights Plan for approval at its next annual and special meeting of shareholders.

The adoption of the Rights Plan is in line with standard Canadian corporate practice and the Company is not aware of any specific take-over bid for the Company that has been made or is contemplated.

A complete copy of the Rights Plan is available upon request. Shareholders wishing to receive a copy of the Rights Plan should make their request by telephone at +44(0) 20 7257 2930, by email at [email protected] or by mail to Aureus Mining Inc., 20 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7QH, United Kingdom, Attention: Jeremy Cave. A copy of the Rights Plan is also filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Contact Information

Aureus Mining Inc.

David Reading / Jeremy Cave

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7257 2930

RBC Capital Markets

Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker: Martin Eales / Richard Hughes / Jonathan Hardy

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7653 4000

GMP Securities Europe LLP

Joint Broker: Richard Greenfield / Alexandra Carse

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7647 2800

Buchanan

Bobby Morse / James Strong

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

About Aureus Mining

The Company's assets include the New Liberty gold deposit in Liberia (the "New Liberty Gold Project"), which has an estimated Reserve of 873,000 ounces of gold grading 3.1 g/t and an estimated Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,086,000 ounces of gold grading 3.6 g/t and an estimated Inferred Mineral Resource of 483,000 ounces of gold grading 3.5 g/t. A technical update for the New Liberty gold project was released in February 2012, derisking and building on the robust PEA, filed in December 2010. This update outlined an improved pre-tax NPV of US$260 million based on a US$ 1,350 / oz. gold price and a discount rate of 8 %, with an eight year mine life and annual production of 123,000 ounces for the first four years.

The New Liberty Gold Project is located within the Bea Mountain mining license which covers 457 km² and has a 25 year, renewable, mineral development agreement. The Bea Mountain mining license also hosts the proximal gold targets of Ndablama, Weaju, Silver Hills and Gondoja, which are the focus of exploration programs during 2012.

The Company also has gold assets within exploration properties in Cameroon.

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