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DIA BRAS REPORTS MORE DRILL HOLE RESULTS WITH SOME HIGH GRADE SECTIONS ASSAYING
23.22% ZINC AND 5.08% COPPER

Montréal, Québec, - May 18, 2006 -

Dia Bras Exploration Inc. (DIB-V) ("Dia Bras or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of 32 underground and surface drill holes at its Bolivar property, targeted all along the zones where the Company expects to encounter numerous copper and iron skarns, as reported in Table 1 below and the drill hole locations are shown on the map.

Very high grade sections are reported as in hole 14 where 21 meters assayed 23.22% Zn and 5.08% Cu. The silver content is steady at more or less 60g/t with a peak at 400g/t locally. Gold content ranges from traces to 2.6 g/t.

Over the last four months the company through its Bolivar pilot mining program has milled ore averaging combined grades of 15.6% (13.28% Zn et 2.38 % Cu).

The Company also signed a new drill contract for 25,000 meters – with an option for 50,000 meters - with Canmex, a Canadian drilling company operating in Northern Mexico, using the Company’s own equipment. This will free up time for the Company to pursue its pilot-mining project and focus on acquisitions. Essential data on costs, logistics, grade, recovery and metallurgy will allow the Company to finalize a feasibility study for a possible large mill on-site at Bolivar, planned for 2008.

The mineralization of the South Bolivar copper-iron skarn is similar to that of the large copper-iron skarns of the Yerington, Nevada, copper porphyry-skarn deposits. The Yerington skarns are large tonnage and high grade, such as the Pumpkin Hollow (Lyon) skarn reported by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology at 250 million tonnes averaging 0.3% Cu and 40% Fe with a high grade zone of 29 million tonnes averaging 1.2% Cu.  Dia Bras is targeting similar tonnes and grades in its ongoing exploration of the South Bolivar copper-iron skarn.

Bolivar MINE (underground drilling)

Dr. Thomas L. Robyn, Executive Chairman, is the Qualified Person for technical statements made in this release.

Method of analysis
The analyses were conducted at Chemex Laboratories in Vancouver by fire assay for precious metals and atomic absorption for base metals.

About Dia Bras
Dia Bras is a Canadian mining and exploration company focused on precious and base metals in the State of Chihuahua, northern Mexico. The Company is actively exploring and developing its three key assets – the Bolivar copper-zinc project, the newly acquired Cusi silver mining camp and the Promontorio property – in the world-renowned Sierra Madre mineral belt. The Company trades on the TSX Venture Exchange, under the symbol “DIB”.

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For further information contact:

Thomas L. Robyn
Executive Chairman
(514) 393-8875 ext. 241

or

Nicole Blanchard
Managing Partner
Sun International Communications
(450) 627-6600


The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Forward-looking statements: Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release, without limitation, regarding new projects, acquisitions, future plans and objectives are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.