Manicouagan Minerals Earns 51% Interest in Pickle Lake Gold Properties – Plans to Increase to 70%

MANICOUAGAN MINERALS INC.

Suite 501, 133 Richmond Street West Toronto, Ontario M5H 2L3 (416) 542-3980

News Release

MANICOUAGAN MINERALS EARNS 51% INTEREST IN PICKLE LAKE GOLD PROPERTIES – PLANS TO INCREASE TO 70%

TORONTO, April 15, 2010 – Manicouagan Minerals Inc. (TSX-V:MAM) is pleased to announce that it has earned a 51 percent interest in the three Pickle Lake area gold properties that it has optioned from Trillium North Minerals and has advised Trillium North that it has elected to incur the next $1.5 million of exploration expenditures on the properties to increase its interest to 70 percent.

The optioned properties consist of three non-contiguous claim groups known as the Pickle Lake East Property, the Kasagiminnis Property, and the Dorothy-Dobie Lake Property. Collectively the properties cover an area of approximately 77 square kilometres. The Pickle Lake East property covers the interpreted strike extension of the gold bearing structure that hosts the past producing Central Patricia and Pickle Crow Mines. The Pickle Crow Mine is currently being explored by PC Gold Inc.

To earn its 51 percent interest in the three optioned properties Manicouagan incurred $1 million of exploration expenditures on the properties and made the underlying option payments totaling $90,000 to the Vendor of the Kasagiminnis and the Dorothy-Dobie Lake properties. (For further details about the agreement with Trillium North see MAM Press Release dated April 16, 2009.)

Manicouagan is currently developing plans for additional exploration on these properties including drill testing targets recently identified on the Pickle Lake East Property.

Joseph Baylis, Manicouagan's President and CEO, said, "The Pickle Lake area is the focus of Manicouagan's exploration programs. These properties are a significant portion of our large and strategic land package in this increasingly active gold camp. We intend to aggressively explore our properties to reveal their potential."

Since April 2009, Manicouagan has developed a strategic land position in the Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt of over 132 square kilometres in this proven, but underexplored gold mining camp. The Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt, is part of the prolific Uchi Geological Sub-province which hosts the Pickle Lake, Red Lake and Rice Lake gold camps. Production to date, from these camps has amounted to over 25 million ounces of gold. The Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt includes four past producing mines: Pickle Crow (1,450,000 ounces grading 16.1 grams per tonne gold), Central Patricia (650,000 ounces grading 12.0 grams per tonne gold), Golden Patricia (450,000 ounces grading 19.9 grams per tonne gold) and Dona Lake (200,000 ounces grading 8.6 grams per tonne gold).

A sketch showing the location of all of Manicouagan’s Pickle Lake gold properties is available at www.manicouaganminerals.com.

Manicouagan’s exploration programs in the Pickle Lake area are being carried out under the direct supervision of Bruce W. Mackie, P.Geo., a consulting geologist for Manicouagan Minerals. Bruce W. Mackie, P.Geo., has reviewed and verified the technical content of this press release on behalf of Manicouagan Minerals and is a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About Manicouagan

Manicouagan Minerals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company focused on advancing its gold projects in the Pickle Lake Gold Belt, Ontario. Manicouagan also has a pipeline of commodity projects including the Brabant Lake Zinc deposit in Saskatchewan, together with the Mouchalagane Nickel/Copper/PGE project and the HPM/Forgues Nickel/Copper/Cobalt project, both in Quebec.

For further information contact:

Joseph Baylis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manicouagan Minerals Inc.

(416) 542-3980 or Andreas Curkovic, Investor Relations - (416) 577-9927 or [email protected]

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All  statements  other  than  statements  of  historical  fact,  included  in  this  release,  including,  without  limitation,   statements   regarding   potential   mineralization   and   reserves,   exploration   results   and   future   plans   and   objectives   of   the   Company,   are   forward-­‐looking   statements   that   involve   various   risks   and   uncertainties.   There  can  be  no  assurance  that  such  statements  will  prove  to  be  accurate  and  actual  results  and  future   events  could  differ  materially  from  those  anticipated  in  such  statements.  Important  factors  that  could  cause   actual  results  to  differ  materially  from  the  Company’s  expectations  are  exploration  risks  detailed  herein  and   from  time  to  time  in  the  filings  made  by  the  Company  with  securities  regulators.