Rubicon Announces that the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines has Accepted its Production Closure Plan As Filed

Rubicon Minerals Corporation

is pleased to announce that the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines has accepted its Production Closure Plan as filed for its 100% owned Phoenix Gold Project in Red Lake, Ontario at 3:15 pm Toronto time today. This approval allows Rubicon to continue its development and further construction of the mining facilities for the Phoenix Gold Project. David Adamson, Rubicon's President and CEO commented, "The approval of the Production Closure Plan is a significant milestone in the development of our Phoenix Gold Project especially considering that we made the initial discovery a little over three and one half years ago. We are committed to both continuing our ongoing consultation with local Aboriginal groups whose traditional territory includes the private lands where the project is located and also building on existing agreements with these groups. To this end we are targeting conclusion of mutually beneficial agreements in 2012 covering the production phase of the project. We wish to express our appreciation for the support shown to date by local Aboriginal communities and by the people and Municipality of Red Lake where we live and work. We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of the MNDM which supports sound development of mineral projects in the Province. We are proud to be active members of the Red Lake community and are committed to the responsible development of the Phoenix Gold Project in this famous gold district."