St. Elias Mines Ltd. Grants Options to Downtown Industries Ltd. to Acquire Interest in the South Rim Project, British Columbia

Vancouver, Canada, October 26, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Lori McClenahan, President, St. Elias Mines Ltd. (SLI - TSX:V)

(“St. Elias”), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with Downtown Industries Ltd. (“Downtown”) whereby Downtown has agreed to acquire up to an undivided 75% interest in the South Rim Project (the "Property") located in central British Columbia.

South Rim Project
The Property, comprising 21 mineral claims covering 8,221.53 hectares, lies within a mineral-rich region of central British Columbia approximately 130 kilometres south of Houston. The Berg Cu/Mo Deposit is 40km to the north; the Huckleberry Mine (20,000tpd Cu/Mo) is 27km north northeast; Thompson Creek Mining's Davidson Mo Deposit is 145km to the north and their Endako Mine (30,000tpd Cu/Mo) is 150km to the northeast.

The Property covers a zone of high-grade molybdenite float as well as a gold-bearing quartz vein epithermal system. It is located immediately south of the southern rim of an oval shaped "caldera" (volcano crater) measuring approximately 20km x 40km. Numerous mineral deposits and occurrences including the Huckleberry Mine and the Berg Deposit are associated with ring or radial fractures related to the caldera formation.

The Property also adjoins the Coles Creek Property owned by Callinan Mines Ltd. ("Callinan") located in the southern portion of the caldera. Recent results from Callinan from diamond drill hole Cole 28 confirmed an intersection of 21.25 metres of core length grading 3.368 grams per tonne gold, 15.33 g/t silver, 2.04 per cent zinc and 0.15 per cent lead. The mineralized zone occurs from 268.75 metres to 288.6 metres in a volcanoclastic breccia mineralized with sphalerite, argentite and galena. Another 11.55-metre zone, also in DDH Cole 28 occurring from 181.4 metres to 194 metres, returned samples measuring 0.146 g/t gold, 68.87 g/t silver, 2 per cent zinc and 1.22 per cent lead. See Callinan News Release of August 25, 2010.

South Rim Project Letter Agreement
Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, Downtown can earn an initial 51% undivided interest in and to the Property (the “First Option”) by paying to St. Elias $5,000 in cash within five business days from signing the Letter Agreement and issue to St. Elias 5,000 common shares of Downtown within 10 business days of signing a formal agreement. In addition, Downtown is required to, over a period of three years from the date that the Company graduates to Tier 2 on the Exchange:

(i) pay to St. Elias in cash an aggregate of $75,000;
(ii) issue to St. Elias an aggregate of 110,000 common shares of Downtown; and
(iii) incur exploration expenditures on the Property in the aggregate amount of $600,000.

In order to acquire a further 24% undivided interest in and to the Property (the “Second Option”), Downtown is required to, over a period of three years from the date that Downtown elects to earn the Second Option:

(i) pay to St. Elias in cash an aggregate of $250,000;
(ii) issue to St. Elias an aggregate of 300,000 common shares of Downtown; and
(iii) incur exploration expenditures on the Property in the aggregate amount of $1,500,000.

Downtown shall have the exclusive right to manage and operate the exploration programs as operator during the period of the First Option and thereafter if the First Option is fully exercised. An operator’s fee of 8% of total exploration expenditures incurred shall be charged by Downtown and will qualify as an exploration expenditure.

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange approval and the execution of a formal agreement.

Qualified Person
The data contained in this News Release has been reviewed and verified by Duncan Bain, Ph.D., P.Geo., a “qualified person” for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian securities administrators.

For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada).

St. Elias Mines Ltd.
(signed “Lori McClenahan”)

Lori McClenahan, President
For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada) or contact:

European Investor Relations U.S. Investor Relations
Nicholas Fuller Herbert Haft
Nick Fuller & Associates The Haft Group, Inc.
Tel: 011-44-207-256-5204 Tel: (212) 759-8865
Email: nick@fullerir.com Email: herbhaft@haftgroupinc.com
herbhaft@aol.com
St. Elias Mines Ltd.

Lori McClenahan, President
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this document.

This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statement.

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