Orvana Reports Measured & Indicated Resources Increase of 50%

According to Pre-Feasibility Study at Copperwood Site 

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CA - Monday, February 28, 2011 - Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX:ORV), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Orvana Resources US Corp ("Orvana USA"), announced Friday an updated resource estimate for the Copperwood copper project, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, USA. This estimate includes the mineralization in the adjacent area, previously referred to as Copperwood S6, and will be the basis for the mine plan and design that will be included in the prefeasibility study expected to be released in June, 2011.

"We will now optimize the throughput for the prefeasibility study since this estimate increased M&I tonnage by over 50% and contained copper by about 40% as compared to that used for the September Preliminary Economic Assessment," said Bill Williams, President of Orvana USA.

Marston & Marston of St. Louis, Missouri was retained to prepare the updated mine plan and design. KD Engineering of Tucson, Arizona will oversee the prefeasibility study. As reported in the December 14, 2010 press release, the resource estimate of 25.01 million tonnes of 1.40% indicated (771 million pounds) and 36.14 million tonnes of inferred (1,033 million pounds) in the area of Copperwood, referred to as the Copperwood Satellites, will be evaluated after the mine is operating in order to assess expansion possibilities.

Copperwood is a sedimentary stratiform copper deposit hosted by the Precambrian Nonesuch Formation. The mineralized unit, or the copper-bearing sequence ("CBS"), lies at depths between about 30 metres (100 feet) and 265 metres (870 feet). The CBS is amenable to underground, room-and-pillar mining. The mineralization is analogous to the White Pine mine, located 30 kilometres (18 miles) to the east, where nearly 2 million tonnes of copper was produced between 1953 and 1996.

Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have a demonstrated economic viability.

Marston & Marston, under the supervision of Michael B. Ward, who is an independent qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101, prepared the resource estimate. A summary report will be made available on the Company’s website, www.orvana.com, and on SEDAR, www.sedar.com, within 45 days.

About Orvana

Orvana Minerals is a gold producer with a strong balance sheet and is transforming itself into a multi-mine gold and copper producer. Orvana's primary asset is the El Valle/Boinás-Carlés ("EVBC") gold-copper project in northern Spain, which is expected to be in production early in 2011. Orvana owns and operates the Don Mario gold mine in Bolivia where the company is developing the fully permitted copper-gold-silver Upper Mineralized Zone ("UMZ") deposit, which is expected to commence initial production within weeks. In addition, Orvana is advancing its Copperwood copper project in Michigan, USA. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com).