Primero Reports 32% Increase In 2013 Year-End Gold Mineral Reserves

TORONTO - Primero Mining Corp. reported year-end Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources for its San Dimas mine in Mexico. The Company reported that Proven and Probable Gold Mineral Reserves increased 32% over year-end 2012, to 870,000 ounces, at a 23% higher grade. Measured and Indicated Gold Mineral Resources increased 28% over year-end 2012 to 997,000 ounces (inclusive of Mineral Reserves).

"Primero has been very successful at consistently increasing reserves and resources and expanding the mine life of its San Dimas mine" stated Joseph F. Conway, President and Chief Executive Officer, "Importantly we were also successful at defining higher grade mineralization, with a 23% increase in the Gold Mineral Reserve grade and an 18% increase in the Silver Mineral Reserve grade. The 2013 exploration program significantly expanded one of the new high-grade veins, Victoria, that was discovered in 2012. The Victoria vein is a prime example of the value we see at San Dimas. The vein was unknown at the beginning of 2012, contributed approximately 45,000 ounces to the 2012 year end Gold Mineral Reserves, provided meaningful production in 2013 and through drilling has now expanded to 195,000 ounces at 11.5 g/t of gold in the 2013 year end Mineral Reserve estimate. Due to close proximity to infrastructure we expect to access the highest grade portion of the Victoria vein within the next 18 months. Primero's continued exploration success at San Dimas led us to expand the mill to 2,500 tonnes per day. With the mine and mill expected to be operating at 2,500 tonnes per day by the end of this quarter, the Company expects to increase production in 2014 to between 155,000 and 165,000 gold equivalent ounces. The focus is now on ensuring that there is sufficient Mineral Reserves in order to justify a potential further mill expansion to 3,000 tonnes per day. The exploration team is focused on identifying new ounces in close proximity to existing infrastructure. The discovery of an additional mineable high-grade vein system, or the expansion of the use of long-hole mining at San Dimas would likely be enough to support a decision to expand the mine to 3,000 tonnes per day." As at December 31, 2013, the Company reported adding 311 thousand ounces of gold to the Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves at San Dimas, before depleting 102 thousand ounces during the year. This equates to replacing the 12 month gold depletion by 305%.