New Millennium Iron Corp. Announces Start of Drilling at Its 100% Owned Lac Ritchie Property and Provides Update on Progress of Drilling to Collect Bulk Samples for the Taconite Project

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - July 20, 2011) -

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New Millennium Iron Corp. ("NML" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE:NML) announced today that it has extended the current contract with George Downing Estate Drilling Ltd of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (the "Contractor") to add a third drill and include drilling of the taconite exploration targets at Lac Ritchie and Perault Lake (see news release NR 11-18). The drill is in the process of mobilization. The collection of the KéMag Bulk sample is progressing well and the Contractor is expected to move its equipment from the KéMag deposit to Lac Ritchie before the end of July. NML estimates undertaking about 5,000 meters of drilling in those two targets.

Based on the results of the Airborne Magnetic survey undertaken in 2010, NML selected two of the several promising targets for further exploration (refer to the attached Figure 1). Following the evaluation of drill results, NML intends to undertake a scoping study with the objective of providing an estimate of NI43-101 compliant resources.

Dean Journeaux, NML's President and CEO, said: "Now that our first two projects are firmly on development and production paths we feel that it is opportune to further explore and demonstrate the potential of our vast landholdings. Although our Taconite Project holds the largest undeveloped iron ore deposits of its type in Canada, it comprises only about ten percent of the Millennium Iron Range (MIR) taconite belt (Figure 1). Based on our Geophysicist Consultant's analysis the Millennium Iron Range has the potential to hold resources to rival the KéMag and LabMag deposits. Our goal is to be in a position by mid-2012 to consider development of another project to take advantage of the robust iron ore market and especially the continuing booming demand from Asia."

Airborne Magnetic Anomaly, Lac Ritchie:

This iron formation is flat lying (dipping 10 to 15° towards the northeast (NE) and is very similar to the KéMag deposit in its geological setting. The aeromagnetic anomaly is comparable to the KéMag deposit anomaly. The KéMag deposit and its associated magnetic anomaly extend over an area of 13.5 km² and contain 2.1 billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at an average grade of 31.3% Fe, 0.3 billion tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at an average grade of 31.3 % Fe and 1.0 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an average grade of 31.2% Fe (see news release 09-01 dated January 16, 2009). The Lac Ritchie area is about 11.5 km long and 2.3 km wide with an area of 26.45 km², almost twice the size of KéMag.

The drilling will be conducted in two phases. The first phase of drilling will be along the strike of the iron formation with widely spaced holes to obtain the stratigraphic, mineralogical and grade information. The second phase of the program is in-fill drilling. The drilling will be between sections drilled during the first phase and will cover the width of the taconite formation. An estimated total of 2,500 m will be drilled to evaluate the anomaly area with the objective of providing an estimate of NI 43-101 compliant resources.

Dean Journeaux, Eng., and Thiagarajan Balakrishnan P.Geo., are the Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101 who have reviewed and verified the scientific and technical mining disclosure contained in this news release.

About New Millennium

The Corporation controls the emerging Millennium Iron Range, located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the Province of Quebec, which holds one of the world's largest undeveloped magnetic iron ore deposits. In the same area, the Corporation is also advancing its Direct Shipping Ore ("DSO") Project to near term production. Tata Steel Limited, one of largest steel producers in the world, owns approximately 27% of New Millennium and is the Corporation's largest shareholder and strategic partner.

Tata Steel has exercised its exclusive option to participate in the DSO Project and has a commitment to take the resulting production (see news release 10-16 dated September 14, 2010). Tata Steel also has exercised its exclusive right to negotiate and settle a proposed transaction in respect of the LabMag Project and the KéMag Project (see news release 11-09 dated March 6, 2011).

The Millennium Iron Range currently hosts two advanced projects: LabMag contains 3.5 billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at a grade of 29.6% Fe plus 1.0 billion tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at an average grade of 29.5% Fe and 1.2 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an average grade of 29.3% Fe (see news release 06-13 dated July 5 2006 and news release 07-11 dated July 17, 2007); KéMag contains 2.1 billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at an average grade of 31.3% Fe, 0.3 billion tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at an average grade of 31.3 % Fe and 1.0 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an average grade of 31.2% Fe (see news release 09-01 dated January 16, 2009).

NML's DSO project contains 64.1 million tonnes of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves at an average grade of 58.8% Fe, 8.1 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources at an average grade of 58.8% Fe, 7.2 million tonnes of Inferred Resources at an average grade of 56.8% Fe and about 40.0 - 45.0 million tonnes of historical resources that are not currently in compliance with NI 43-101 (see news release 09-03 dated February 11, 2009, news release 09-05 dated March 4, 2009, news release 09-16 dated December 9, 2009 and news release 10-12 dated July 8, 2010). A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.

The Corporation's mission is to add shareholder value through the responsible and expeditious development of the Millennium Iron Range and other mineral projects to create a new large source of raw materials for the world's iron and steel industries. For further information, please visit www.NMLiron.com, www.tatasteel.com and www.tatasteeleurope.com.

Dean Journeaux, Eng., is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and verified the scientific and technical mining disclosure contained in this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management of the Corporation's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Corporation's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements.

To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/720nlm_map.pdf.