VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 14, 2011) - First Point Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FPX) ("First Point" or the "Company") is pleased to summarize the completion of a very active field season at the Decar nickel-iron alloy project in central British Columbia.

First Point believes that the Decar Project is the first property of its type anywhere in the world to be explored for possible commercial production of nickel entirely from awaruite, a naturally-occurring nickel-iron alloy, or "stainless steel". As a result, a number of the technical issues that arise are unique.

The Decar Project is being advanced under an option/joint venture agreement between First Point and Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF)(PARIS:CLF) and its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary ("Cliffs") that was signed in November, 2009. Under the original agreement, Cliffs was entitled to earn a 51% interest in the Project by incurring exploration expenditures of US$4.5 million over four years. Once Cliffs earned a 51% interest, it gained the right to increase its property ownership (i) from 51% to 60% by completing a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA"); (ii) from 60% to 65% by completing a preliminary feasibility study, and (iii) from 65% to 75% by completing a bankable feasibility study. As set out below, the agreement was amended in September, 2011. Cliffs is now the manager of the exploration program.

Significant milestones in the 2011 program were as follows:

• March, 2011: Cliffs was able to secure a drill rig for the Project by committing to a 4000 metre drill program. The purpose of the program was twofold:
  
  • To evaluate the bulk-tonnage size potential of the outcropping Baptiste and Sidney targets identified by the nine-hole 2010 drilling campaign; and
    
  • To test new zones identified by rock sampling and geophysics close to the Baptiste and Sidney targets.

• April, 2011: Cliffs engages Caracle Creek International Consulting Inc. ("Caracle Creek") as its consultant with respect to the Decar Project;

• May, 2011: Environmental baseline studies commenced.

• June, 2011: Cliffs assumes management of the Project, and engages Caracle Creek to supervise the 2011 program.

• July, 2011: First Point announces positive metallurgical results. The metallurgical work was conducted on a composite 1,011 kg. sample collected from the 2010 nine-hole drilling program. The head grade of the composite sample averaged 0.22% total nickel, of which 0.14% (64% of the total nickel) was present in the form of potentially recoverable nickel. The remaining nickel is most probably present in the silicate lattice of the minerals that make up the host-rock, and is generally unrecoverable.

• July, 2011: Drilling commences at Decar. A 47-hole drill program is proposed, focussing on delineation drilling of the Baptiste zone over a 2,500 metre by 700 metre area. Holes are planned on 200 metre centres, with a downhole depth of 300 metres at -50º.

• August, 2011 Six holes of the planned 47 hole drill program are completed. In order to complete the budgeted 2011 drill program, a second drill rig is added. The first samples for assay were shipped from the Property on August 18.

• September, 2011 Two more drill rigs are added in an effort to complete the budgeted drill program before the onset of winter weather conditions.

• September, 2011 Cliffs and First Point amend the original option agreement, such that Cliffs is deemed to have acquired a 51% interest in the Decar Property and agrees to prepare a NI-43-101 compliant PEA by March, 2013, subject to a resource determination.

• October, 2011 The drill program is curtailed because of poor weather, and the fact that results from further drilling would not be available for a resource calculation planned by Cliffs for year-end. A total of 35 delineation holes, totalling 11,166 metres, are completed on the Baptiste Zone. One 600 metre hole is drilled in the centre of the Baptiste zone to test mineralization at depth. Only one exploration hole was drilled, on a prospective target approximately 4.6 kilometres north-northwest of the Baptiste zone. Time constraints, and the focus on the Baptiste target prevented the drilling of four holes on the Sidney target and two holes on the Van target.

• November, 2011 Completion of the shipment of all samples for analysis at Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario.

First Point is very encouraged by the accelerated pace of the exploration program at Decar, but notes that the preliminary economic assessment necessary for Cliffs to earn a 60% interest in the Decar Property remains contingent on Cliffs establishing a mineral resource, and that there is no guarantee that further exploration work will result in the delineation of mineral resources suitable for use in a PEA. Following receipt of the core sample analyses from Activation Laboratories, Caracle Creek, at the direction of Cliffs, will evaluate whether the drilling completed to date has generated sufficient data to establish an NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource estimate at Decar.

First Point also notes that the relatively long time required to analyze the samples from the 2011 drill program is a consequence of high demand for capacity of available commercial analytical labs and a change to the assay procedures used. The 2010 samples were analyzed using a method that selectively extracts the nickel from awaruite. Following the completion of the metallurgical work in May, 2011, the 2011 assays are now Davis Tube extractions of the magnetic fraction of the sample, followed by assaying to determine the total nickel content of the extracted portion. As a result, the 2011 assay results will report the extractable nickel of a concentrate instead of total nickel and then applying a percentage recovery factor. As such, the 2011 analysis can be characterized as a metallurgical process rather that a pure assay process, resulting in an extended time before results are received and can be announced.

Caracle Creek reports to Cliffs and First Point indicate that mineralization is visible in all of the drill holes completed in the 2011 program. However, no accurate estimate of grade can be made until the analytical results have been received. First Point has received the analytical results of the first four holes drilled in the 2011 program, and will make public disclosure when results from a greater number of holes have been received. In addition, a selection of the 2010 cores will be re-analyzed for direct comparison of results.

Dr. Peter Bradshaw, P. Eng., First Point's Qualified Person under NI43-101, has reviewed and approved the analytical content of this news release.

About First Point

First Point Minerals Corp. is a Canadian base and precious metal exploration company. For more information, please view the Company's website at [ www.firstpointminerals.com ].

On behalf of First Point Minerals Corp.

Peter Bradshaw, Ph.D., P. Eng., President

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is considered "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Actual results could differ from those currently projected. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

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