Primero Reports 31% Increase in 2012 Year-End Probable Gold Mineral Reserves Over 2011

Primero Mining

today announced year-end Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources for its San Dimas mine. The Company reported that Probable Gold Mineral Reserves increased 31% over year-end 2011, to 660,400 ounces, or 19% on a per share basis and that Indicated Gold Resources increased 35% over year- end 2011 to 779,600 ounces (inclusive of Mineral Reserves)."Our exploration team was very successful at discovering new ounces in 2012," stated Mr. Joseph F. Conway, President and Chief Executive Officer, "adding value per share for shareholders and demonstrating the high quality of the San Dimas asset. We increased the contained gold and silver ounces in Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources, replacing the 12 month gold depletion by a significant 269%. The discovery of two new high- grade veins in our exploration area, the Sinaloa Graben, supports our belief that this new block represents the future of the San Dimas mine. These discoveries also contributed to our decision to expand the mine to 2,500 tonnes per day. With this expansion on-track to be completed in the first quarter of 2014 our focus is now on adding sufficient ounces in 2013