Intrepid Prepares for 2005 Exploration at San Cristobal, El Salvador.

TORONTO -- Intrepid Minerals Corporation (TSX:IAU) has completed its 2004 exploration program in eastern El Salvador. 2004 was a very positive year, with the discovery of several new prospects and the confirmation of extensive mineralized areas during its drilling campaigns. In addition, the Company has continued its creation of value through the establishment of a joint venture with Au Silver Inc. (formerly Au Martinique) and the establishment of production royalty with the sale of the Aldea Zapote Project (including the Cerro Colorado silver resource).

Since 1998, Intrepid Minerals Corp., through its Salvadoran subsidiaries, has explored a large area of eastern El Salvador referred to as the San Cristobal Project. San Cristobal is located within an east-southeast trending graben structure that comprises all of the historical gold-silver mining districts in the country and also acts as a control to significant gold deposits in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. (Please view the country map at http://www.intrepidminerals.com/goldbelt.pdf.)

The San Cristobal Project covers approximately 200 square kilometres and contains 7 distinct historical gold-silver districts. Intrepid continues to explore these districts particularly in the vicinity of Montecristo, El Gigante, Hormiguero and Divisadero. Additionally the company's greenfields reconnaissance activities in 2004 have been very successful, revealing new and exciting gold occurrences in the country including Oro Nuevo, Minitas and San Jacinto. A map showing the San Cristobal property package and major mineralized districts where Intrepid is active can be seen at http://www.intrepidminerals.com/elsalprojects.pdf.

The Oro Nuevo Corridor

Reconnaissance activities by Intrepid's exploration team in late 2003 resulted in the discovery of the Oro Nuevo Corridor where epithermal-style gold and silver mineralization has now been identified over a north-south zone approximately 10 kilometers in length and 2-3 kilometers wide. Several prospects have been identified including:

Oro Nuevo

The Oro Nuevo prospect (see 2004 Press Releases: #04-08, March 11; #04-09, April 6; and #04-24, October 27) covers an area of at least 4 km2. The work conducted in 2004 has revealed the following:

-The geologic setting consists of a volcanic/sedimentary package composed of silicified epiclastic sediments intercalated with pyroclastic dacitic tuffs and intrusive phases;

-The prospect is located in a regional extensional feature or possibly a more local volcanic setting such as a maar diatreme complex;

-Gold mineralization is hosted by a myriad of quartz veinlets, veins and hydrothermal breccias deposited during several stages. Trenching returned anomalous intervals ranging up to 52 metres of 2.91g/t Au and 3.34g/t Ag in Trench # ON-4.

-Elevated precious- (including 1.69 g/t Au over 30 metres) and base-metals values have been identified by drilling within: 1) a shallow dipping structural "volcaniclastic package" ranging from 25 to 50 metres wide; and 2) discrete veins in the footwall of this sequence;

-All core holes encountered broad zones of quartz veins and hydrothermal breccias and 11 out of the 13 holes encountered gold values above 1 g/t Au.

Intrepid geologists are currently evaluating geological and geochemical data from the 2004 programs to better 'vector' toward the source of the gold-bearing mineralization. Owing to the size of the prospect (2004 drilling tested about 5% of the prospect area), Intrepid continues to aggressively explore Oro Nuevo in preparation for additional drilling in 2005.

Minitas

The Minitas prospect is located on the south end of the Oro Nuevo prospect and consists of a series of small mine workings localized along a strong NW-trending wrench fault. Vein exposures are very limited and sampling has been mostly limited to several small dumps and mine workings. Vein samples consist of multiple stage breccias with vein and wallrock fragments (dacite and epiclastic sediments) cemented by massive to colloform banded, fine grained quartz with up to 5% pyrite-chalcopyrite-sphalerite. Analytical results reveal the vein to be strongly enriched in gold and silver with values of grab samples up to 15.15 g/t gold and 859 g/t silver. Intrepid geologists believe the Oro Nuevo and the Minitas prospects are related and that the Minitas vein's mineralogy and precious metal grades are viable target expectations at Oro Nuevo. Detailed mapping and sampling are proposed for the Minitas vein with a view to defining specific drill targets.

San Jacinto

The San Jacinto prospect is located about 5 kilometers S-SW from Oro Nuevo and is considered to be part of the Oro Nuevo Corridor. The prospect consists of a north-trending vein system that can be traced for at least one kilometer. Values up to 40 g/t gold have been obtained in grab samples of outcrop and float from this massive to banded quartz vein system. Additional field work will be done in early 2005 but the prospect is already considered to be drill ready.

Hormiguero District

In 2004, Intrepid drilled six holes across the Guadalupe vein, a major NNE-oriented vein structure which is exposed on the surface for over 1.5 kilometers. The first drilling phase consisted of two holes and was described in Press Release #04-13 (June 2, 2004). Discovery Hole EH01-04 intersected 7.45 metres of 7.50 g/t gold, 648 g/t silver and 9.49% copper from 174.65 to 182.10 metres. The second phase of drilling consisted of four holes that stepped-out 50 to 70 metres from Hole EH01-04. These holes tested north and south strike extensions as well as up and down dip extensions. The Guadalupe vein was identified in all holes and ranged in core thickness (down-hole) from 17.4 to 49.85 metres. The vein mineralogy is dominated by calcite containing two fragment types: gold-bearing quartz-chlorite-pyrite and massive to banded sulfides composed of chalcopyrite-bornite-covellite. Hole EH04-04, located about 60 metres south of Hole EH01-04 contained 17.50 metres (180.95 to 198.45 metres) of 2.73 g/t gold including values up to 9.17 g/t gold over 1.45 metres. Hole EH03-04 and Hole EH05-04 encountered gold values up to 1.98 g/t over 6.2 metres and 3.04 g/t gold over 1.6 metres, respectively.

In 2004, Intrepid has explored the Guadalupe vein for approximately 250 metres of its 1.5+ km strike length. Several historically mined veins remain to be tested in the Hormiguero District. Drilling to date has revealed that the Guadalupe vein is robust, complex and continuous at depth. Further work will attempt to define a significant gold-silver-copper resource along the vein. Activities for the first quarter of 2005 will focus on deciphering the geology and geochemistry of this strong, multi-stage Au-Ag-Cu-rich 'hybrid' epithermal system and expand this knowledge to the adjacent veins in the district.

Rio Seco/Montecristo

The Montecristo District operated continuously from 1934 to 1960 producing in excess of 5 million ounces of silver and 100,000 ounces of gold. Montecristo was El Salvador's second largest producer of silver and second only to the neighbouring Divisadero District. Production was predominantly from high-grade epithermal veins hosted by andesite flows. Over the past several years, Intrepid has identified broad zones of gold-rich quartz veins and veinlets at shallower depths than the previously productive zones. These targets are amenable to bulk tonnage mining techniques. In late 2004, access permits were obtained for an aggressive surface program which is currently in progress and will continue into 2005. Owing to the thick vegetation covering the prospect (approximately 200m x 800m), trenches must be cut to assist in the mapping as well as provide qualitative geochemical information necessary for drill program design. The initial phase of this program should be completed by March 1st, 2005.

Divisadero District

The Divisadero District produced gold-silver ore from two vein systems between 1874 and 1917. The District's main target was tested at depth in 2003 but was not successful in identifying the desired grades and widths adjacent to the historical workings. In late November of 2004, Intrepid initiated a drill program at the Protectora mine, located about one kilometer north of the main district. Previous surface trench sampling conducted by Intrepid across the vein yielded values up to 8.54 g/t gold and 575 g/t silver over 4 metres. Hole DV19-04, drilled below these trenches intersected a broad zone of quartz stockwork, vein and quartz-cemented breccias in silicified volcanics from about 80 to 123 metres. Analytical results from this interval failed to produce ore-grade intercepts. As a result, Intrepid has terminated exploration at Protectora for the near term.

Gigante District

From 1886 to 1951, the Gigante mine produced gold and silver intermittently but had never been systematically explored. In 2004 Intrepid drilled six core holes, for a total of 425 metres, immediately adjacent to the old workings. The drilling was shallow and holes ranged up to 85.70 metres in depth. The results were very encouraging with highlights including: 3.35 metres of 15.61 g/t gold and 1393 g/t silver in Hole EG01-04; 0.20 metres of 44.86 g/t gold and 2516 g/t silver in Hole EG04-04; and 9.65 metres of 4.0 g/t gold and 136 g/t silver in Hole EG06-04. Other holes encountered zones of hydrothermal vein breccia up to 20 metres wide with anomalous gold (up to 1.59 g/t) and silver (up to 253 g/t) values. The combination of these encouraging preliminary results and the strength and continuity of the Gigante vein system, leads management to believe that 2005 could be a very exciting year for exploration in the Gigante district.

Intrepid Minerals is a TSX listed company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral prospects. The Company, either directly or through joint venture partnership, holds interests in several gold-silver and silver-base metal properties in Argentina, El Salvador, and Canada. William McGuinty is the designated qualified person for the San Cristobal Project. Intrepid has 46,010,220 shares outstanding.

The statements made in this Press Release may contain forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties.

Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections.

The TSX has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained in this press release.

Intrepid Minerals Corporation (TSX:IAU)