Ireland Inc. Provides Technical Program Update

Ireland Inc. Provides Technical Program Update

Company to Host Investor Conference Call on Tuesday, April 16, 2013

HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ireland Inc. (OTCBB: IRLD) today provided an update to its technical program at the Columbus Project, located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Ireland is continuing the process of transferring its gold and silver extraction process from AuRIC Metallurgical Laboratories facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, to its on-site pilot plant in Nevada. Concentration, leach and extraction tests are scheduled to commence shortly under the supervision of AuRIC. Upon the successful completion of a series of five ton batch leach tests, Ireland intends to begin operating the pilot plant on a continuous basis and then commence its Phase Four Drill Program, with the goal of improving the geological definition of the North Sand Zone.

Ireland also announced that it will host an investor conference call and webcast at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time) on Tuesday April 16, 2013 (details provided below). Ireland plans to file its 2012 operating results and its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, 2013.

Technical Program Update

In the first quarter of 2013, Ireland continued the process of transferring its successful gold and silver extraction process from its test location at AuRIC's facility in Salt Lake City to Ireland's on-site pilot plant in Nevada. The goal of this technology transfer is the continuous operation of the on-site pilot plant.

During the quarter, Ireland's technical program focused on upgrading the on-site water supply to improve its compatibility with thiosulphate leaching. Work included comparative analyses of the municipal water supply utilized by AuRIC at its Salt Lake City laboratory and the water provided by the on-site well at the Columbus Project. Based upon information derived from these comparative analyses, Ireland recently completed the installation of a new water conditioning circuit at the Columbus Project in order to supply process water to the leach circuit that is similar in character to the water that was utilized for all of the successful leach tests conducted at AuRIC's Salt Lake City facilities.

In addition, during the quarter Ireland completed an upgrade to the on-site gravity concentration circuit in an effort to improve efficiency and reduce potential abrasive wear on the equipment. Ireland experienced a six week delay in this process due to the late arrival of equipment and the unavailability of qualified technical support.

The pilot plant is now ready to commence on-site multi-ton concentration, leach and extraction tests under the supervision of AuRIC's technical personnel. Each batch test will involve the processing of approximately five tons of head material in order to produce and leach concentrates, followed by filtration, resin extraction and precious metals production. During this period, Ireland may continue to upgrade the precious metals processing and extraction equipment as necessary to improve operating efficiencies and circuit capacity. Once these batch extraction rates have been completed to Ireland's satisfaction, the Company intends to begin the process of phasing in the operations of the pilot plant on a continuous basis, with a target of processing up to 20 tons of head material per day.

Phase Four Drill Program

After effective operating parameters for the leaching and metals recovery components of the extraction circuit have been fully implemented and the pilot plant is operating continuously, the Company intends to initiate its Phase Four drill program, permits for which have already been granted. The Phase Four drill program will consist of 31 holes drilled to a depth of 200 feet below the surface of the Columbus Salt Marsh Basin. These drill holes will cover an additional 0.48 square miles adjacent to southern border of the North Sand Zone. The goals of the Phase Four drilling program will be to expand the boundaries of the North Sand Zone and to improve the size and definition of the mineralization estimates for the North Sand Zone. It is anticipated that additional drill programs will follow.

To date, results of drilling in the North and South Sand Zones (to depths of 200 feet and 100 feet, respectively) have identified a drill inferred 174 million tons of sands with an average sample head grade of 0.038 opt gold equivalent AuE (0.034 opt Au, 0.179 opt Ag).

Investor Conference Call

Ireland Inc. will host an investor conference call on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its technical program and other topics of interest. The Company plans to release its operating results and file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 on April 15, 2013.

The Participant Dial-In Number to listen to the conference call is (U.S. TOLL-FREE 1-855-327-683) or (TOLL/INTERNATIONAL participants dial 1-778-327-3988). Participants should dial in to the call at least five minutes before 1:30 p.m. PDT (4:30 p.m. EDT) on April 16, 2013. A real-time webcast of the call will be available at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=104291. The call will provide an overview of and status update on the Columbus Project and questions will be accepted exclusively via email prior to the start of the call and during the call to: terri@bibimac.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available by dialing (U.S. TOLL-FREE 1-877-870-5176) or (TOLL/INTERNATIONAL participants dial 1-858-384-5517) starting April 16, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. EDT through May 16, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Please use PIN Number 911513.

About Ireland Inc.

Based in Henderson, Nevada, Ireland Inc. (www.irelandminerals.com) is a minerals exploration and development company that targets properties containing large-scale deposits of precious metals in the southwestern United States. Ireland is currently involved with two mining projects, both of which are prospective for gold and silver. In early 2008, Ireland completed the acquisition of the Columbus Project located in Esmeralda County, NV, near Tonopah. Ireland also owns rights to acquire up to 100% of the Red Mountain Project in San Bernardino County, California.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may include statements that constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect," "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, Ireland's limited operating history, future trends in mineral prices, the availability of capital, geological or mechanical difficulties affecting Ireland's planned geological work programs, and uncertainties surrounding estimates of mineralized material. Extraction rates and mineralization grades from test results on individual samples may not be representative of extraction rates or grades that can be obtained from other samples or from commercial scale extraction efforts. Additional exploration work will be required to fully define the extent of the Columbus Project's mineralized areas and before proved or probable mineral reserves can be established. There is no assurance that the results of Ireland's exploration of pre-feasibility programs will result in a decision to enter into commercial production. Ireland undertakes no obligation to update the forward looking statements in this document.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") permits U.S. mining companies to disclose in their filings with the SEC only "reserve estimates," which are those parts of a mineral deposit that the company can economically and legally extract or produce at the time the estimate is made.Ireland may use certain terms in this press release such as "measured," "indicated," and "inferred" "resources."SEC guidelines strictly prohibit U.S. registered companies from including these terms in their filings with the SEC.Further, inferred resource estimates generally may not be used as the basis for pre-feasibility or feasibility studies. There are no assurances that any resource estimates can be economically or legally extracted or produced or that any of these resource estimates will ever be converted to reserves. There are also no assurances that any inferred resource estimates will be converted into indicated or measured resources. The mineralization estimates provided in this release are based on internal calculations and have not been independently confirmed.

Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Ireland Inc. files from time to time with the SEC, particularly its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports, which may be obtained from the SEC's website athttp://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

Investor Relations Contacts:
Bibicoff + MacInnis, Inc.
Terri MacInnis, 818-379-8500
Dir. of Investor Relations
terri@bibimac.com
or
RJ Falkner & Company, Inc.
R. Jerry Falkner, CFA
800-377-9893
info@rjfalkner.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America Nevada Utah

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

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