General Minerals Corporation TSX: GNM

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 3, 2007) - General Minerals Corporation ("GMC") (TSX:GNM) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, High Desert Gold Corporation ("HDG"), has signed an engagement letter with MGI Securities Inc. ("MGI") as part of GMC's previously announced plan to spin off its North American assets located in the United States and in Mexico into a separate gold-copper focused company (see GMC PR07-10, July 3, 2007). Pursuant to the engagement letter, MGI has agreed, subject to the terms and conditions of the engagement letter, to act as lead agent in connection with a proposed initial public offering ("IPO") of HDG. MGI may invite additional dealers to join the syndicate participating in the offering.

The proposed IPO of HDG follows the recent successful spin-off of GMC's South American property interests this past February through the initial public offering of South American Silver Corp. (TSX:SAC). GMC owns 8,600,000 common shares of South American Silver representing approximately 18% of the currently issued and outstanding shares of South American Silver.

It is anticipated that a preliminary prospectus for the IPO will be filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces in mid August. The price and number of securities to be issued pursuant to the IPO have not yet been determined and the IPO is subject to a number of regulatory, due diligence and market conditions. Following completion of the IPO, it is anticipated that GMC will be a minority shareholder in HDG.

Completion of the IPO is subject to a number of conditions including receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. No assurance can be provided that the IPO will actually be completed and readers are cautioned in this regard.

HDG, directly and through subsidiaries, holds all of GMC's interests in mineral properties located in the U.S. and Mexico. The three major properties held by HDG are its flagship Canasta Dorada gold property in Sonora, Mexico (see GMC PR07-08, May 31, 2007), the Gold Lake porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum property in New Mexico (see GMC PR06-05, March 2, 2006) and the Monitor copper-silver property in Arizona (see GMC PR06-12, June 7, 2006). At Canasta Dorada, GMC has taken multiple rock chip samples averaging 1 gpt gold and has acquired rights to acquire a 70-100% interest in a very large adjacent land package of approximately 448 sq. km. Canasta Dorada is located in the Sonoran gold belt in northern Mexico which extends into the southwestern section of the U.S. The Sonoran gold belt contains such gold properties as the Newmont-Penoles La Herrandura mine (6 million oz), La Choya (350,000 oz), Mesquite (5 million oz) and Capital Gold's Chanate mine (500,000 oz) that is under construction approximately 25 km southeast of Canasta Dorada.

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plan", "proposed" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may materially differ from expectations, if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. The material factors and assumptions that were applied in making the forward-looking statements in this news release include the state of the financial markets at the time of any public offering, the ability to successfully finance HDG, and receipt of regulatory approvals.

SEC 12g3-2(b): 82-34810