Virginia to Spend Over $8.5 Million in Exploration Work in 2009

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC, Jun 10 (MARKET WIRE) --
Virginia Mines Inc. (Virginia) (TSX: VGQ) wishes to inform its
shareholders and the financing community that it is about to begin, alone
or with partners, several exploration programs on its numerous projects
in Quebec, thus marking the beginning of another very active year of its
history.

Virginia is planning expenditures of over $8.5 million in exploration
work on some of its projects during the current year. Virginia's
participation will be about $3.8 million (44% of the total budget) after
deduction of recoverable tax credits and partners' contribution.

The Poste Lemoyne Extension, Anatacau-Wabamisk, La Grande Sud and
Noella-Nichicun projects will be the object of work programs totalling
about $4 million. Diamond drilling is scheduled this fall on the Poste
Lemoyne, Anatacau-Wabamisk and La Grande Sud projects. Additional
drilling programs on other projects will depend on results of this
summer's work programs. The Poste Lemoyne Extension project is host to
Zone Orfee, which has an established significant resource of 88,588
tonnes grading 9.44 g/t Au in the measured category and 114,895 tonnes
grading 18.4 g/t Au in the inferred category. The Zone Orfee remains open
at depth. Most recently, exploration work outlined a new auriferous
corridor followed over 6 kilometres, in an east-southeast direction. This
corridor contains several new gold showings that returned strongly
anomalous gold results ranging from 0.29 g/t Au / 2m to 1.05 g/t Au/ 17m
in channel sampling. Individual samples collected to characterize these
mineralized showings yielded, from time to time, values between 12 and 52
g/t Au. The La Grande Sud project is host to Zone 32, which has an
established inferred resource of 6.5 million tonnes grading 1.5 g/t Au
and 0.2% Cu (press release of March 11, 1999).

Virginia and its partners will also spend about $2.5 million on several
other projects including Corvet Est (Goldcorp Inc.), Gayot and Trieste
(Breakwater Resources Ltd.), FCI and Auclair (Odyssey Resources Ltd.),
Assinica (MacDonald Mines Exploration), Generation Grenville (SOQUEM) and
24L Belts (Nunavik Mineral and Exploration Fund). At this stage, diamond
drilling is also planned on the Auclair and Generation Grenville projects.

A budget of over $1 million, will also be spent alone by Virginia to
prospect and test new targets spread over the James Bay territory.

Virginia is very enthusiastic about beginning its work exploration season
with the goal of discovering new mining camps in the James Bay region
where Virginia and its partners have already identified many polymetallic
massive sulphide lenses and four gold deposits, among which the Eleonore
project that resulted in a $500 million agreement with Goldcorp Inc.
Virginia is very pleased with the recognized successes of its exploration
team and its contribution to mining development in James Bay, a region
with exceptional mining potential.

ABOUT VIRGINIA

Virginia is among the most active mining exploration companies in Quebec
with a working capital of $38.5 million as at February 28, 2009, and
29,201,776 shares issued and outstanding as at May 31, 2009. Virginia
trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker symbol VGQ.
Virginia concentrates its activities on its numerous properties that are
spread over the vast, unexplored regions of northern Quebec

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are
subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and
uncertainties include those described from time to time in Virginia's
periodic reports filed with the security commissions of British Columbia,
Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and in the annual report on Form 40-F filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Virginia undertakes no
obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the
date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contacts:
Virginia Mines Inc.
Andre Gaumond
President
800-476-1853 or 418-694-9832
418-694-9120 (FAX)

Virginia Mines Inc.
Paul Archer
V-P Exploration
800-476-1853 or 418-694-9832
418-694-9120 (FAX)

Virginia Mines Inc.
Amelie Laliberte
Investor Relations
800-476-1853 or 418-694-9832
418-694-9120 (FAX)
www.virginia.qc.ca
mines@virginia.qc.ca

Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

-0-