New York Stock Exchanges and NASDAQ

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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 31, 2010) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN)(NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN) announced today that the company's shares began trading "ex-rights" on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ Stock Market on December 29, 2010.


Each Ivanhoe Mines share traded before December 29, 2010, is considered to have had the value of a right embedded in the price of the share. Beginning on the "ex-rights" date - December 29 - the rights in effect could be considered to be separate from the common shares for comparative valuation purposes.


Securities trades in the United States and Canada customarily settle three business days following the date of each trade. This means that buyers of Ivanhoe Mines shares purchased on or after December 29 will not be registered as holders of those shares on December 31, 2010, which is the record date for determining the eligibility of shareholders to participate in the company's previously announced rights offering. Under terms of the rights offering, only shareholders of record on the December 31 record date will be entitled to receive one right for every share that they own.


"Regular way" trading of the rights will begin on the TSX on January 4, 2011, under the symbol "IVN.RT," and continue until 12 noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 26, 2011. "Regular way" trading will begin on January 6, 2011, on the NYSE under the symbol "IVN RT" and on NASDAQ under the symbol "IVN.R," and will stop at the close of trading on January 25, 2011. The rights offering will expire at 5:00 p.m. (EST) on January 26, 2011.


Every 100 rights will allow the holder to purchase 15 common shares of Ivanhoe. Every 20 rights, for example, will entitle the holder to purchase three shares. Each holder may choose a subscription price of either US$13.88 per share or CDN$13.93 per share.


A rights-offering prospectus and rights certificate will be mailed to each shareholder of record on January 5, 2011, subject to applicable law. The final prospectus, dated December 16, 2010, is available now on Sedar and on EDGAR; key details were summarized in news releases issued by Ivanhoe Mines on December 18 and 22, 2010, which are available at >www.ivanhoemines.com)


Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN)(TSX:IVN) is an international mining company with operations focused in the Asia Pacific region. Assets include the company's 66% interest in the world-scale, Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine development project in southern Mongolia; its 57% interest in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources (TSX:SGQ)(SEHK:1878); a 62% interest in Ivanhoe Australia (TSX:IVA)(ASX:IVA), a copper-gold-uranium-molybdenum-rhenium exploration and development company; and a 50% interest in Altynalmas Gold Ltd., a private company developing the Kyzyl Gold Project in Kazakhstan.