EDMONTON, Alberta - Shear Minerals Ltd. ("Shear") (SRM:TSXV) announced that on December 31, 2008 it closed on the sale of an additional 7,142,857 units of Shear ("Units") pursuant to its previously announced non-brokered private placement. The Units were sold at a price of $0.07 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $500,000. Each Unit consisted of one common share of Shear ("Common Share") issued as a "flow-through" share pursuant to the Income Tax Act (Canada) and one-half of a non-transferable share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each whole Warrant entitles the holder to acquire an additional Common Share at a price of $0.20 at any time until December 31, 2010.

The Units were sold to the MineralFields Group in reliance upon exemptions from the prospectus and registration requirements of applicable securities legislation. The proceeds from the sale of the Units will be used to incur expenditures which qualify as Canadian Exploration Expenses and will be spent primarily on Shear's Churchill Diamond Project in Nunavut.

In connection with the sale of the Units, Shear paid Limited Market Dealer Inc. the sum of $35,000 (equal to 7.0% of the gross proceeds realized from the sale of the Units) and issued non-transferable share purchase warrants ("Finder's Warrants") entitling it to acquire 499,999 Common Shares (equal to 7% of the Units sold) exercisable at a price of $0.10 per Common Share at anytime until December 31, 2010.

The Common Shares and Warrants comprising the Units, Finder's Warrants and Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and Finder's Warrants are subject to a four (4) month hold period which expires on May 1, 2009. The sale of the Units and the finder's fee are subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

The MineralFields Group (a division of Pathway Asset Management) is a Toronto-based mining fund that offers tax-advantaged super flow-through limited partnerships to investors in Canada as well as hard-dollar resource limited partnerships.

Shear is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on diamond exploration in the Canadian North, where it explores in established diamond districts and has discovered new ones. Shear currently has a portfolio of eight diamond projects, seven of which are drill-ready. Shear has advanced its flagship Churchill Diamond Project from a conceptual idea to an expanding diamond district hosting 88 kimberlites in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.

On behalf of the Board
SHEAR MINERALS LTD.
/s/ "Pamela Strand"
Pamela Strand, P. Geol., President
For further information, please contact the Company at 780-435-0045 or 1-866-298-9695
www.shearminerals.com


This news release may contain forward looking statements, being statements which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, exploration results, resource or reserve estimates, anticipated production or results, sales, revenues, costs, "best-efforts" financings or discussions of future plans and objectives. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Shears' expectations are in documents filed from time to time with the provincial securities regulators, most of which are available at www.sedar.com. Shear disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.