Latin American Minerals Signs Letter of Intent With Olivut Resources for Development of its Itapoty Diamond Project

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/16/11 -- Latin American Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: LAT) (the 'Corporation') announces that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) outlining the potential earn-in and joint venture development of the Corporation's Itapoty Diamond Project by Olivut Resources Limited (Olivut). Olivut is a TSX-V listed company focused on diamond exploration in Canada and also in Uruguay in South America. The Itapoty Diamond Project is located in Paraguay, South America and is 100% controlled by the Corporation.

Pursuant to the LOI, the Corporation and Olivut have agreed to negotiate a binding agreement (the 'Definitive Agreement') with respect to the Itapoty Diamond Project. The Definite Agreement is expected to be finalized within 45 days.

As indicated by the terms of the LOI, the Definitive Agreement shall provide Olivut with an option to earn 50% of the project by incurring CDN$250,000 in exploration and expenses related to the property during the first 12 months and an additional CDN$750,000 during the following 18 month period. If executed, it is anticipated that exploration work will begin immediately on the project. Olivut would be the operator during the earn-in period. After completing the earn-in conditions, a Joint Venture representing the two companies in equal proportion would be formed and the project would be controlled through joint management committee.

The Itapoty Diamond Project is located in eastern Paraguay and consists of four concessions 100% owned or controlled by the Corporation, totaling approximately 225,000 hectares (final dimensions subject to environmental permitting and regulation by the Paraguayan authorities under the Mining Law).

Work to date at Itapoty has produced encouraging results:

--  In controlled sampling programs conducted by the Corporation, 37
    diamonds have been recovered.
--  An additional 18 diamonds have been reported in other exploration work
    and due-diligence programs.
--  Stream sediment sampling has produced many occurrences of Kimberlite
    Indicator Minerals (KIMs), often occurring with or proximal to the
    diamond samples.
--  The distribution of the diamonds and KIMS suggests multiple local
    sources.
--  Geological and geophysical evidence supports emplacement of diatremes
    and dykes, likely sources for the diamonds encountered to date.

The Itapoty Diamond Project is located in an area with a developed road network, small towns and small farms. Good access and infrastructure facilitate work on the project. Paraguay is underexplored but has tremendous potential for mineral wealth. It boasts excellent conditions for investment and has social conditions and infrastructure well suited to mine and industrial development.

Miles Rideout, the President and CEO of Latin American Minerals Inc. stated 'The Itapoty Project is a significant exploration undertaking with huge potential to find economic diamond sources. The diamond recoveries to date are outstanding and indicate we may have several sources. LAT has focused on assembling a large property package to ensure that the diamond sources will be found within our concessions. We are very pleased to team with Olivut on this project, thus increasing the technical and financial resources available to effectively move this large project through exploration and development.'

About the Company:

Latin American Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on the drilling and development of its Paso Yobai Gold Project and is also exploring a Niobium and Rare Earth Element project, both also located in Paraguay.

Dr. Waldo Perez is the Corporation's internal 'Qualified Person' under the requirements of National Instrument 43-101.

The statements made in this press release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information that involves risk and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address Latin American Minerals' expectations, should be considered forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's exercise of business judgment as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. When used in this document, the words 'may', 'will', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect', 'intend' and words of similar import, are intended to identify any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current view of future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as contained in Latin American Minerals' filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update, revise or otherwise publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events, unless required under applicable securities laws. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will materialize.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Latin American Minerals Inc.

Miles Rideout

President and CEO

Argentina: (54-261) 439-9268

Toronto: (1-416) 902-8558 or 363 0841
www.latinamericanminerals.com