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TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/21/13 -- MacDonald Mines Exploration (TSX VENTURE: BMK) ('MacDonald' or 'the Company') has commenced its Winter 2013 drill program on the Butler 3 volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) target in the Ring of Fire (ROF). The newly delineated drill target exhibits coincident geochemical, density, conductivity and chargeability anomalies. The Butler property is located 36 kilometres west of Cliffs Natural Resources (Cliffs) Big Daddy Chromite deposit (Click here for map).

To view "Figure 1: Outline of gravity anomaly and vertical projection of drilling in the Butler 3 area", please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/bmk02212013fig1.pdf.

Analogy to Kidd Creek Deposit

The Butler 3 geophysical anomaly (density, IP and EM) measures 100 metres wide by 500 metres long and is located east of the previously identified stringer mineralization. Last year's drill hole BP12-Cu11 intersected hydrothermal talc above this anomaly - interpreted as the top of a large, overturned (approx. 90 degrees) VMS feeder system spanning over 1.5 kilometres in length. The Butler 3 geochemical signature and alteration zone are remarkably similar in size and alteration intensity to that observed at Kidd Creek Mine - one of the world's largest Cu-Zn VMS deposits.

It has been postulated that a Kidd Creek type deposit is possible in the ROF due to the high temperature magma chambers in the footwall of the VMS deposits here. The presence of komatiites, icelandite, talc and tin at Butler 3 is proof that we have a high temperature exhalative system capable of forming large VMS deposit(s).

The Importance Komatiites

The confluence of the prominent markers for high heat flow (komatiites and icelandites), combined with the abundance of highly altered felsic volcanic rocks (rhyolite) all point to this being a highly prospective area. Generally the larger the alteration system, the larger the associated VMS deposit(s).

According to Dr. Larry Hulbert, P.Geo., the only identification of unequivocal komatiites within the ROF are on the Butler Lake property. This has demonstrated to the Company that the property has the potential to host significant mineralization due to the extreme temperatures and potential length of time for a VMS system to form. The only large VMS deposit with a komatiitic suite overlain by rhyolites (as present on the Butler 3 target) is the Kidd Creek deposit in Ontario.

Minister Tony Clement to Take Helm in the Ring of Fire

As reported today in the February 20th, 2013 edition of the National Post, the federal government has won accolades for finally naming a point man for the Ring of Fire.

Minister Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board and head of a federal development organization for Northern Ontario, announced that he would take the lead role on the file at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"There is a lot at stake and we cannot afford to allow this development to stall and become mired in paralysis and uncertainty," he said in a speech in Thunder Bay.