Southern Arc reports high grade gold drill intercepts at W. Lombok property

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--( Jan. 11, 2011) - Southern Arc Minerals Inc. is pleased to announce results from its first two holes of the Phase 2 drilling program at the Central Raja target, Pelangan Prospect in West Lombok property.

Drillholes PLD001 and PLD002 intersected the Central Raja gold-bearing epithermal breccia zone at depth below the earlier shallow Phase 1 drillhole RDG01. RDG01 had returned an intersection of 10.70 m (true width 6.8m) @ 2.93 g/t Au (including 4.70m (true width 2.7 m) @ 5.80 g/t Au) previously reported. These new holes targeted depths of 60 m and 120 m below the RDG01 interval.

PLD001 and PLD002 intersected the following mineralized intercepts:
PLD001 4.85 m (true width 3.3m) @ 7.11 g/t Au 18.5 g/t Ag from 56.55 m (including 1.35 m (true width 0.9m) @ 16.67 g/t Au 17.0 g/t Ag from 56.55 m) and

PLD002 17.25 m (true width 5.7m) @ 5.73 g/t Au 11.7 g/t Ag from 121.60 m (including 8.75 m (true width 2.9m) @ 10.51 g/t Au 20.7 g/t Ag)

Results from PLD001 and PLD002 support the concept of increasing gold grade with depth in Central Raja and confirm the existence of high-grade shoots within the system. They also highlight the need for further extensive deeper drilling at Pelangan.

"These initial results of Phase 2 drilling are very encouraging and highlight the significant gold potential not only at Pelangan, but also for the Mencanggah area. There, surface mapping and sampling of similar auriferous MSBs with an aggregate strike length in excess of 15 km have already identified a number of high priority drill-ready targets..." commented CEO John Proust.

The Pelangan gold prospect is located in the northwest section of a 13 km long, northwest trending structural corridor of epithermal and porphyry mineralization. This district-scale field also includes the Company's Selodong porphyry copper/gold prospect and the Mencanggah epithermal/porphyry prospect

Surface mapping and shallow scout drilling at Pelangan defined extensive, structurally controlled, epithermal gold-bearing breccia zones (termed Mineralized Structural Breccia or "MSB") occurring over an area of 3 by 2 km. Five major zones of mineralisation (Raja, Kayu Putih, Tanjung-Jati, Lala and Ratu) have been delineated, comprising an aggregate strike length of approximately 4.6 km.

Drilling has identified a 'bonanza' episode within the Central Raja MSBs, characterized by significantly higher gold-tenor (generally greater than 10g/t), low silver/gold ratio, and specific vein textures. Such bonanza episodes can localize within the vein zone to form high-grade 'ore-shoots' which can add significant ounces to a deposit within relatively small areas. (end of edited release)