Matador Partners With Austminex on Largest Land Position in the Coolgardie Gold Belt of Western Australia.

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Matador Exploration Inc. (the "Corporation") ("Matador") ("MXN")(TSX VENTURE:MXN) is pleased to announce that, subject to regulatory approval and due diligence, the company has entered into an option agreement with Austminex Limited ("Austminex") ("ATX"), an Australian listed company, whereby Matador will fund up to AUS$10.75 million of acquisition and exploration expenditures over three years in order to earn a 50% interest in the Coolgardie Gold Project ("CGP") and Three Mile Hill processing plant, along with other Austminex land holdings in the Goldfields of Western Australia.

The Coolgardie Gold Belt is located in Western Australia, 560km east of Perth and 35 km south of the "Super Pit" at Kalgoorlie, which was developed during the 1980s when the Kalgoorlie Gold Belt was amalgamated. The Matador-Austminex joint venture will become the largest land-holder in the Coolgardie Gold Belt, by acquiring the Coolgardie Gold Project and Three Mile Hill processing plant from Herald Resources and Leviathan Resources as recently announced by Austminex (see www.austminex.com.au). It will then have the rights to more than 200 square kilometers of land in the Kalgoorlie-Coolgardie-Widgiemooltha area of Western Australia, one of the world's most significant gold and nickel mining regions.

The Matador-Austminex joint venture will have a significant gold resource inventory and will pursue its objective of rapidly developing its regional gold projects in order to maximize utilization of the 1.2 million tonne per annum processing capacity of Three Mile Hill plant. Resource estimates were prepared by Austminex in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC) and public disclosure of the estimates was vetted by the Australian Stock Exchange before being made available on the Austminex website at www.austminex.com.au . Matador has not verified this information and cannot attest to its accuracy or Canadian regulatory compliance at this time (NI 43-101), but is in the process of conducting due diligence and an independent review of all available data. Matador cautions that the information available from Austminex may not be reliable for investment purposes and may only be used by investors at their own risk.

Mr. John Williamson, the president of Matador, stated, "I am excited to be part of the consolidation of the Coolgardie Gold Camp. I believe that the potential of the camp to host larger gold deposits is excellent. Our goals in moving forward will be threefold: to add new resource ounces, to convert resources to reserves and last, but not least, to explore the camp for larger blind deposits which we all believe exist. Like our partners, we believe that coordinated regional exploration will deliver significant returns, much as it did following the consolidation of the Kalgoorlie gold belt in the 1980s."

The Coolgardie Goldfield is Archaen aged and situated at the western margin of the Norseman-Wiluna Belt within the Yilgarn Craton and comprises an arcuate belt of deformed, amphibolite grade mafic, ultramafic, felsic and sedimentary rocks bounded to the east by syntectonic monzogranite. Gold deposits in the Coolgardie area are structurally controlled and occur within all lithotypes as 1) replacement orebodies in ductile-brittle shear zones; 2) shear zone hosted quartz reefs; and 3) brittle vein sets within competent mafic rock units.

The joint venture also includes a number of other projects with identified gold resources, many on granted Mining Leases, such as Norris/Grosmont, Dreadnought, Lord Bob, and Boundary. The Mount is the most advanced gold project in the area and provides an outstanding opportunity for a large high-grade gold deposit accessible by open-pit and underground mining. The Mount project is located in Widgiemooltha, about 100km south of Kalgoorlie, and covers approximately 9 square kilometers. The mineralization is hosted within subvertical quartz tourmaline veins within a succession of thrusted and folded mafic and ultramafic rocks. Austminex has commenced pre-feasibility studies for The Mount and Dreadnought projects.

Under the terms of the option, Matador will pay the non-refundable $100,000 option fees and subject to due diligence bear 50% of the $5.5 million acquisition cost of the CGP and Three Mile Hill processing plant under the option agreement between Herald Resources Limited, and Leviathan Resources Limited and Austminex Ltd. On completion of the acquisition, Austminex and Matador will form a joint venture to explore, develop and mine the CGP and strategically located tenements and resources held by Austminex in the Coolgardie-Widgiemooltha region, including its high-grade The Mount and Dreadnought gold projects. Matador will have an initial 10% interest in the joint venture, including most of Austminex's assets and all rights and interests in the CGP. The new joint venture will not include Austminex's Nepean Nickel Joint Venture with Consolidated Minerals Ltd and the Coolgardie Nickel Joint Venture with Sipa Exploration NL. Matador can earn up to a 50% interest in the joint venture by sole funding $8 million of joint venture exploration within a 3-year period in stages, with a guaranteed $2.7 million expenditure commitment in the first 12 months. The joint venture is conditional upon the satisfactory conclusion of due diligence to be performed on the assets by Matador within 3 months.

On behalf of the Board
Matador Exploration Inc.
/s/"John Williamson"
John Williamson, P.Geol.
President

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Matador Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MXN)