Benton and JV Partner Buchans Minerals to Drill Long Range Base Metal Targets & Conduct Soil Geochem Over Goldquest Prospect

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/24/11 -- Benton Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: BTC) ('Benton') and Buchans Minerals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BMC) ('Buchans Minerals') and or the 'Companies' are pleased to announce plans to commence drilling several base metal targets on the Long Range 50/50 joint venture property in the next few weeks. The program is expected to include approximately 1,000 metres of drilling in ten holes testing three priority targets including:

--  The Portage Nickel prospect, where previously trenched bedrock exposures
    yielded grab samples assaying up to 2.70% nickel, 0.58% copper and 0.24%
    cobalt, and limited drilling intersected mineralized gabbro, including a
    section assaying 0.44% nickel, 0.22% copper and & 0.016% cobalt over
    12.0 metres core length, including 1.36% nickel, 0.36% copper and 0.039%
    cobalt over a 1 metre core length. This prospect will be further tested
    as a near surface bulk tonnage target.

--  The Range Copper prospect, where previous drilling returned an
    intersection of semi-massive to massive sulphides averaging 0.39% copper
    and 0.032% cobalt over a core length of 37.8 metres. Drilling will test
    the zone over a minimum strike length of 160 m, to a depth of 150
    metres, as predicted from recent interpretation of geophysical data
    collected in 2010. It is hoped that the new holes will better
    characterize the grade and geometry of the zone, which is considered to
    have good potential to host higher base metal grades within what may be
    a large, zoned, sulphide body.

--  The String anomaly, an untested conductive anomaly located approximately
    four kilometres southwest of the Portage Nickel prospect and potentially
    on strike and associated with similar, but more concentrated, gabbro-
    hosted nickel sulphide mineralization.

A drilling contract has been awarded to Logan Drilling of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia and drilling is expected to commence within the next few weeks and take four weeks to complete. A map showing the location of the proposed drilling is available at http://www.buchansminerals.com.


Goldquest Update:

Following the discovery of the Goldquest prospect at the end of 2010, the Joint Venture is currently evaluating snow conditions with a view to commencing additional work over the prospect later this month to expand the soil geochemical survey covering an expanded area measuring 1.5 x 2.0 kilometres. This survey is to be undertaken to further extend and define an open-ended, one kilometre long, prospective trend detected as anomalous gold in soils and float by preliminary surveys completed in December of 2010.


Qualified Person:

Paul Moore, M.Sc., P.Geo., (NL), Buchans Mineral's Vice President of Exploration, is acting as Qualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 with respect to this release and has reviewed the contents for accuracy. Quoted assays and QAQC procedures described in detail in previous Company press releases dated November 3 and November 18, 2009.


About Benton

Benton is a Canadian based junior with multiple joint ventures and a diversified property portfolio in Gold, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. The Company currently has approximately $17 million in cash, owns approximately 55.4 million shares and 2.43 million warrants in Coro Mining Corp. (TSX: COP), holds approximately 348,000 shares of Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC), holds 782,500 shares in Marathon Gold Corp. (TSX: MOZ), holds 1.6 million shares in Puget Ventures (TSX VENTURE: PVS), holds 4 million shares of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: MMV), and holds 815,000 shares of Bell Copper Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BCU).


About Buchans Minerals

Buchans Minerals is an Atlantic Canada based resource company that is focused on exploring and developing mineral properties in New Brunswick and the historic Buchans mining camp in central Newfoundland, Canada.


On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Corp.,

Stephen Stares
President



Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.



Contacts:

Benton Resources Corp.
Stephen Stares
President
(807) 475-7474
(807) 475-7200 (FAX)
http://www.buchansminerals.com

Investor Relations
Clair Calvert
204-799-2086