Eastmain Options Radisson Project to Honey Badger Exploration Inc.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 17, 2011) - Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER) is pleased to announce the signing of a Letter of Intent with Honey Badger Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TUF), ("HBE") on the Radisson Project, currently held 100% by Eastmain. The project, which consists of 207 claims covering 10,698 hectares of highly prospective Archean-aged rocks, is located within James Bay, Quebec, approximately 65 kilometres south of the community of Radisson and about 520 km north-northwest of Matagami.

HBE can acquire 50% of Eastmain's interest during a three-year period under the following conditions:

HBE will be the project operator. Upon acquiring a 50% interest in Radisson, HBE will have a one-time, 60-day option to acquire an additional 10% interest in the property, over a two-year period, by incurring the following:

The Radisson project has tremendous potential to host base and precious mineral deposits. The property covers a 25-kilometre-long portion of the La Grande volcanic-sedimentary greenstone belt, an assemblage of rocks similar to those which host Goldcorp's multi-million-ounce Éléonore Project (Roberto deposit) and those hosting Eastmain's Eau Claire gold deposit ^{1,2 3}, both located further south.

Previous work by Eastmain and others has confirmed the high potential for gold discovery on the Radisson Project. Work completed by Noranda in the early 1990's uncovered an eight-kilometre-long, gold-bearing trend with channel samples ranging from 5.4 to 9.8 gpt gold. Other historic work in the project area has delineated a polymetallic gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc occurrence, which contains up to 34 gpt gold and 340 gpt silver.

HBE's initial exploration program will begin with rock and soil geochemical sampling, and ground geophysical surveys, designed to follow-up on a number of high-priority targets, previously established by Eastmain. A second-phase drill program will continue to test the principle areas of interest.

"We are pleased to join forces with Honey Badger in our on-going exploration efforts in James Bay, Québec, one of the most favourable mining jurisdictions in the world. The James Bay region is emerging as one of Canada's new mining districts. Coupled with growing infrastructure, provided by Hydro Québec and the Province, this underexplored region boasts substantial growth potential. Honey Badger has assembled a solid group of experienced individuals, who have recognized the high potential for the discovery of ore deposits at Radisson. We look forward to working together on future discoveries on the project " stated Dr. Robinson, President of Eastmain Resources Inc.

Dr. Donald J. Robinson P.Geo, is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

About Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER)

Eastmain is a Canadian gold exploration company with 100% interest in the Eau Claire and Eastmain gold deposits which together contain 632,000 ounces of gold in Measured & Indicated resources¹,255,750 ounces gold in Historical Measured and Indicated resources⁴ plus 1,020,000 ounces of gold in Inferred resources². The Corporation has $20.5 Million in its treasury and holds a pipeline of exploration projects within the James Bay District, including the Éléonore South property, which lies immediately south of Goldcorp's multi-million-ounce Éléonore property. Eastmain has allocated $10 million for exploration of its key gold projects in Québec for 2011. Work will include 46,000 metres of drilling.

Forward Looking Statements – Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Eastmain, including, but not limited to the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory approvals and the availability of financing. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

¹ Measured & Indicated Resources (which may potentially be extracted by both open and underground mining methods) of 3,354,000 tonnes containing 632,000 ounces gold @5.86 g/t gold uncapped – Eau Claire NI43-101 NR Apr 26, 2011

² Inferred Resources (which may potentially be extracted by both open and underground mining methods) of 5,322,000 tonnes containing 1,020,000 ounces gold @ 6.06 g/t gold uncapped – Eau Claire NI43-101 NR Apr 26, 2011

³ Near-surface Open Pit Measured & Indicated Resources for Eau Claire (only that portion of the Eau Claire deposit that could potentially be mined by open-pit methods): 2,729,000 tonnes containing 502,000 ounces @5.72 g/t gold -– Eau Claire NI43-101 NR Apr 26, 2011; NR May 19, 2011

⁴ 255,750 ounces gold – Measured & Indicated Historical Non-NI43-101 Compliant Resources at Eastmain Mine (Campbell 2004 AR) and should not be relied upon. A qualified person from Eastmain has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and therefore the historical estimate should not be treated as current mineral resources.