Colonial Coal International Corp.: Update on Exploration Activities Planned for Flatbed

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 28, 2013) - Colonial Coal International Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CAD) (the "Company" or "Colonial Coal") -

David Austin, Colonial Coal's President and CEO, is pleased to report that, based upon a review of various data from in and around Colonial Coal's Flatbed project area (located south of Tumbler Ridge, B.C.), Colonial Coal's geological consultant has now identified three target areas for initial exploration. The data reviewed included:

• a regional Geological Compilation Map of the Peace River region;
• records of oil and gas well drilling in and around the Flatbed application area;
• records of past coal exploration in the region; and
• results from reconnaissance exploration completed by Colonial Coal to date.

As a result of this new information the Company, in consultation with its consultant, has concluded that there are three areas worthy of future exploration aimed at the location of underground mineable metallurgical coal deposits for seams targeted at depths between 200 metres and 600 metres. These areas are located in the northwest and along the northeastern and southwestern sides of the Company's application area.

Mineral Titles BC has recently informed the Company that the all of its Flatbed coal license applications (plus the two older coal license applications for the Company's Huguenot property) form part of a "bundle" of coal license applications currently being processed by the British Columbia Ministry of Energy Mines and Natural Gas ("MEMNG"). Once the Company acquires tenure and all exploration permits have been approved by the Provincial Government, the Company intends to conduct a drilling program to test each of the target areas identified above.

On December 12, 2012, MEMNG announced that it had established a number of coal land reserves in an effort to protect high elevation caribou habitat across the South Peace region to support the recovery of Northern Caribou. Land covered by these reserve areas is no longer available for the acquisition of new coal, mineral or placer tenures. None of the areas covered by the Company's coal license applications (both at Flatbed and Huguenot) are included in these coal land reserves.

This press release has been reviewed by John Perry, a director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About Colonial Coal International Corp.

Colonial is a publicly traded pure-play coking coal company in British Columbia. The northeast Coal Block of British Columbia, within which our Company's projects are located, hosts a number of proven deposits and has been the subject of M&A activities by Xstrata, Walter Energy, Anglo and others.

Additional information can be found on the Company's website www.ccoal.ca or by viewing the Company's filings at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION.