Hunter Bay Minerals Appoints Godfrey Mantle as Director and Chairman and Andrew Tunningley Executive Director (Technical)

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwire) -- 05/30/12 -- Hunter Bay Minerals plc ("Hunter Bay") (TSX VENTURE: HBY)(OTCQX: HTBNF) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Godfrey Mantle as a member of its Board of Directors and as Chairman to the Board of Directors. In addition, Hunter Bay's directors also appointed Andrew Tunningley, a director and Chief Geologist of Hunter Bay, as Executive Director (Technical).

Godfrey Mantle was born in Bombay India in 1950 and educated in Australia graduating in Arts and Law from the University of Queensland in 1979. In the same year he founded the Mantle Group of Companies (www.mantlegroup.com) - a group of companies and trusts 100% privately owned by the family of Godfrey Mantle. The business investments of the group include property, hospitality, education, and agriculture. Those businesses are located in Queensland and New South Wales in Australia and in Bougainville Papua New Guinea.

Hunter Bay's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Chris Wilson commented, "We are delighted to welcome Mr. Mantle to the board, whose broad experience with running successful companies will be of great benefit to Hunter Bay as we advance the Sela Creek project."

Andrew Tunningley is an exploration geologist with worldwide experience in precious and base metal exploration encompassing area selection and project generation through to advanced project management. Mr. Tunningley worked as an exploration geologist with Ivanhoe Mines Ltd from June 2003 to February 2006. Since this time Mr. Tunningley has worked as an independent consultant geologist and as an Associate Consultant Geologist with Exploration Alliance Ltd and SRK (UK).

Chris Wilson further comments, "By appointing Mr. Tunningley to an Executive Role with the company this better reflects his current duties and responsibilities, as well as strengthening his operational capacity in Suriname and at board level."

About Hunter Bay

Hunter Bay is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties located in South America and Canada. Hunter Bay's lead project is the Sela Creek Project, located in Suriname, which Hunter Bay has an option to acquire up to an eight percent (80%) interest. Hunter Bay also owns a one-hundred percent (100%) interest in the Great Bear Lake Properties located in the eastern side of Great Bear Lake NWT and has a thirty percent (30%) interest in the net profits of the Fortuna Project located approximately 400 kilometers southeast of Quito, Ecuador.

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Contacts:

Hunter Bay Minerals plc

Christopher Wilson

CEO and President

(+44) 207-127-9125