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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/15/13 -- Cardero Resource Corp. ("Cardero" or the "Company") (TSX: CDU)(NYSE MKT: CDY)(FRANKFURT: CR5) announces that it has entered into an agreement to extend the option period for the acquisition of four coal licenses which form part of the Carbon Creek Metallurgical Coal Project. The extension will last for a period of up to three calendar months.

Extension of Coal License Acquisition Option

On January 14, 2013, the Company entered into an agreement with the optionor of four coal licenses forming part of the Carbon Creek Metallurgical Coal Project to extend the exercise deadline of the option for a period of up to three months. Previously, the Company was required to exercise the option on or before January 14, 2013 by paying the option holder $5M and issuing 400,000 common shares. Under the new terms, Cardero has agreed to pay a non-refundable deposit of $1M on January 14, 2013, with the $4M balance and 400,000 shares due upon exercise of the option. The Company may extend the deadline for the exercise of the option for up to three months (to April 14, 2013) upon payment of an extension fee of $20,000 for each month of the extension. To date, the Company has made the initial $1M interim payment and the first $20,000 payment to extend the option.

"Renegotiation of the option terms allows the Company to postpone full payment for the coal licenses while we finalize terms and subsequently close the Sprott loan facility, originally announced in October 2012," stated Michael Hunter, Cardero's President and CEO. "The loan facility is tied to the equity financings, which Cardero closed on December 31, and closing of the debt facility is expected in the coming weeks. When we complete the acquisition of the coal licenses, Cardero will have a 100% working interest in this excellent asset."

ABOUT CARBON CREEK

The Carbon Creek deposit is an advanced metallurgical coal development project located in the Peace River Coal District of northeast British Columbia, Canada. The project presently consists of a 2,600 hectare coal lease and 4 coal licenses covering an aggregate of 3,513 hectares. The project has a current resource estimate of 468 million tonnes measured and indicated, with an initial reserve of 121 million tonnes of proven and probable, ASTM Coal Rank mvB coal. The Company released results of an independent prefeasibility study ("PFS") (including an updated resource estimate) in September 2012, which estimates that the Company will generate post-tax, undiscounted cash flow of USD 2.1 billion based on production of 4.1 million tonnes of saleable metallurgical coal products per annum over an initial 20-year mine life at a projected FOB cash cost of $110 per tonne.

More than 44,000 metres were drilled and sampled through the 2011 and 2012 drill seasons. Since completing the 2012 drill programme in November 2012, Cardero Coal technical staff have been compiling results and finalizing interpretations in support of the bankable feasibility study. Work on the updated reserve and resource estimate has been initiated at Norwest Corporation with the assistance of Cardero Coal staff.