go to ELK + News Release: June 10th, 2006 Option agreement with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. Almaden Minerals Ltd. (Almaden) has entered into an option agreement with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. ( Wheaton) for Almaden's Siwash Gold Property near Merritt, BC. Under the terms of this agreement, Wheaton will provide $350,000 to be spent on exploration of the property during 2002, with work being conducted by Almaden. Once the full expenditure is complete, Wheaton shall have earned a ten percent interest in the property. Wheaton will have a right to convert this interest into shares of Almaden at a conversion price of ninety cents ($.90), with the number of shares to be issued to Wheaton being equal to $350,000 divided by the conversion price. Almaden shall also have the right to reacquire the interest earned in the property by Wheaton at the same conversion price and for the same number of shares outlined above. Almaden will use these funds this summer to conduct surface exploration including diamond drilling to extend the known gold bearing veins, seek new parallel veins, and test other known geochemical gold anomalies on the property. The property produced 51,753 ounces of gold from 18,414 tons of ore in the 1990's. Current estimated resources on the property are 123,000 tons at an average grade of 1.153 ounces of gold per ton.   ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Duane Poliquin The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed nor accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release which has been prepared by management. Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements as that term is defined in the private securities litigation reform act of 1995. Such forward -looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results. Such risks and uncertainties are detailed in the Company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.