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CERTIFICATION

I, Thomas C. Shrake, certify that:

1.      I have reviewed this annual
report on Form 20-F of Pacific Rim Mining Corp.;

2.      Based on my knowledge, this
report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state
a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect
to the period covered by this report;

3.      Based on my knowledge, the
financial statements, and other financial information included in this annual
report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results
of operations and cash flows of the company as of, and for, the periods
presented in this report;

4.     The companys other certifying
officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange
Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the company and have:

(a)     
Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that
material information relating to the issuer, including its consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b)     
Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal
control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to
provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c)    
 Evaluated the effectiveness of the issuers disclosure controls and
procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)    
 Disclosed in this report any change in the issuers internal control over
financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by the annual report
that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
issuers internal control over financial reporting; and

5.      The companys other certifying
officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
control over financial reporting, to the issuers auditors and the audit
committee of the issuers board of directors (or persons performing the
equivalent functions):

(a)    
 All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
likely to adversely affect the issuers ability to record, process, summarize
and report financial information; and

(b)     
Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees
who have a significant role in the issuers internal control over financial
reporting.

|Date: July 23, 2012 | By: | Thomas C. Shrake     
|------------------- | --- | -----------------------
|                    |     | Thomas C. Shrake       
|                    |     | Chief Executive Officer

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