Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. Files Technical Report on Palmilla Deposit Adds Additional Resources of 502,800 Gold Equivalent Ounces

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/19/12 -- Further to its news release of October 30, 2012, Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. ("Petaquilla" or the "Company") (TSX: PTQ)(OTCBB: PTQMF)(FRANKFURT: P7Z) announces that it has filed a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant Technical Report on the Palmilla Gold Project dated December 11, 2012 (the "Technical Report"). The Palmilla deposit is located on the Belencillo concession and associated with the Company's Molejon gold operations in the Donoso District, Colon Province, Republic of Panama.

Mineral Resource Estimates

The NI 43-101 compliant Pit Constrained mineral inferred resource in the Palmilla deposit are estimated to contain approximately 19.7 Mt of inferred resources of gold as summarized in Table 1 below.

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Table 1
2012 Palmilla Whittle Shell Inferred Resource Estimate
 at 0.1 g/t Gold Cut-off
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                    Contained       Contained     Contained            Gold
                         Gold          Copper        Silver      Equivalent
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Tonnes in             Grade /         Grade /       Grade /
Whittle Shell          Ounces          Pounds        Ounces          Ounces
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                   0.50 g/t /        0.18 % /    0.54 g/t /
19,725,000            318,500        80.368 M       345,600         502,800
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Note: Gold equivalent is calculated at Gold US$1,600/ounce, Copper US$3.54/pound and Silver US$30/ounce. Resource based on drill values only. Resource estimate effective date is October 26, 2012. Drill hole samples from 2012 were analyzed by ALS Chemex of North Vancouver, BC. Historical project drill hole samples were analyzed by TSL Laboratories of Saskatoon, SK.

Qualified Persons

The Technical Report was prepared by Behre Dolbear & Company Limited. The Qualified Persons were Messrs. Rejean Sirois and Andrew Phillips as well as Dr. Dion Brandt, all of whom are independent of the Company and have reviewed and approved the numbers included in this press release. Dr. Andrew J. Ramcharan, the Company's internal qualified person, has current knowledge of the project and has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.

About Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. - Petaquilla is a growing, diversified gold producer committed to maximizing shareholder value through a strategy of efficient production, targeted exploration and select acquisitions. The Company operates a surface gold processing plant at its Molejon Gold Project, located in the south central area of Panama-a region known historically for gold content. In addition, the Company has exploration operations at its wholly-owned Lomero-Poyatos project located in the northeast part of the Spanish/Portuguese (Iberian) Pyrite Belt and several other exploration licenses in Iberia.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PETAQUILLA MINERALS LTD.

Joao C. Manuel, Chief Executive Officer

NO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN.

Contacts:

Petaquilla Minerals Ltd.

Joao C. Manuel

Chief Executive Officer

(604) 694-0021 or Toll free: 1-877-694-0021

(604) 694-0063 (FAX)
www.petaquilla.com