Rio Cristal Zinc Corporation. ("Rio Cristal Zinc"; “RCZ”; or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has completed its initial public offering and raised gross proceeds of $6,086,900 through the issuance of 12,173,800 units at a price of $0.50 per unit. The Company also reports that the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted the Company's listing application. Trading in the Company's common shares will begin on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 under the symbol "RCZ".

The units were offered in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario through the Company's amended prospectus dated January 3, 2008. Haywood Securities Inc. acted as agent for the offering. A copy of the Company's prospectus can be viewed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). 

Each unit consists of one common share and one-half of one share purchase warrant.  Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.80 per share for a period of 18 months (to July 24, 2009) subject to an accelerated expiry clause pursuant to which if the weighted average trading price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $1.35 for a period of 20 consecutive trading days, the Company will have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the warrants by providing notice to the warrantholders. There are a total of 26,709,100 shares outstanding comprising 10,436,055 shares which are held in escrow and the balance of 16,273,045 shares which are free trading.

The Company paid a 7% commission, granted 7% broker options and paid a $35,000 corporate finance fee to Haywood and certain selling agents in consideration for their services in connection with the offering.

The board of directors consists of Charles Preble (Chairman), Charles Ushela (President and CEO) Miguel Cardozo, Thomas Findley and Andrew Swarthout. The Company's other officers are Corey Dean (Secretary & VP Legal), Steven Krause (CFO), and Miroslav Kalinaj (VP Exploration). Mr. Preble has over 35 years of experience in the mining industry and recently served as President and CEO of Peru Copper Inc. (TSX, AMEX & BVL).  He was previously President and CEO of Southern Peru Copper Corp. (now Southern Copper Corp.) (NYSE, BVL). Mr. Ushela is a businessman with over 20 years of experience in Peru. He is a Director of Cia. Minera Pilar de Amazonas and founder and Director of Minas Andinas S.A.  Mr. Cardozo has over 35 years of experience in exploration and geology and serves as President and Chief Executive Office of Alturas Minerals (TSXV).  Previously, he served in management positions at North Inc. and Newmont Mining.  Mr. Findley has over 30 years of experience in the mining industry, most recently at Peru Copper Inc. as CFO.  He also served as CFO at Southern Peru Copper and as Treasurer at Asarco Inc. (NYSE).  Mr. Swarthout is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV).  He served as Vice President of Exploration of Southern Peru Copper and has over 30 years of mineral exploration experience, much of it in Peru. 

Rio Cristal Zinc Corporation (TSXV: RCZ) is a zinc exploration company focused on the discovery and development of zinc deposits in Peru.  The Company controls the Charlotte Bongará claim block consisting of 25,073 hectares, three exploration projects and multiple drill targets.  The claim block is in an emerging zinc district and is bordered to the east by a high-grade zinc oxide mine operated by Cementos Pacasmayo.  To the south, the claim block is bordered by the Florida Canyon advanced zinc exploration project which is a joint venture between Solitario Resources and Votorantim Metais.  Exploration of the Charlotte Bongará property is currently underway and the Company expects to begin drilling zinc oxide and sulphide targets in the second quarter of 2008.

For further information please contact the Company at:

Telephone:           (604) 609-9644

Fax:                        (604) 609-9946

E-mail:                   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation.  All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding 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 Rio Cristal’s expectations include risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.