Newcastle Gold moves to TSX, plans Oro Belle drilling

2017-01-17 10:31 ET - News Release

Ms. Susan Muir reports

NEWCASTLE GOLD GRADUATES TO TSX AND ANNOUNCES ITS 2017 PLAN

Newcastle Gold Ltd. has received final approval for the listing of the company's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Newcastle Gold's common shares will commence trading on the TSX effective as of market open on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. Upon listing on the TSX, the common shares of the company will continue to trade under the symbol NCA. In conjunction with listing on the TSX, the company's common shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange prior to the commencement of trading on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.

The TSX is the premier stock exchange for resource companies, and Newcastle Gold believes that the move to the main board will facilitate greater access to a broad range of international and institutional investors and capital pools. Increased exposure for the company coincides with the advancement of its flagship asset, the Castle Mountain gold project in eastern California, which has 4.2 million ounces of measured and indicated resources.

Newcastle Gold's plan of action in 2017 includes:

• Completing a 40,000-metre drill program before the end of April (9,381 metres completed to date), followed by an updated resource estimate in the third quarter on the Oro Belle trend (which contains the proposed starting pit in the Oro Belle South area) and a prefeasibility study in the fourth quarter;
• Water drilling and testing in the southern part of the property to increase the project supply following a third party review that was completed in 2016;
• Initiating a prestripping program by year-end in the area of the starting pit to remove approximately 10 million to 20 million tonnes of low-grade material (0.3 to 0.4 gram per tonne gold); this material was previously placed as backfill material from low-grade material (below 0.5 gram per tonne gold) during the later years (1996 to 2001) of the past operation from the Jumbo and Oro Belle pits located to the north; this material does not require blasting or crushing; the low-grade material will be placed at a rate of up to 5,000 tonnes per day onto a run-of-mine (ROM) pad, and the company anticipates that this process could recover 10,000 to 15,000 ounces ahead of full-scale production; the company estimates that the benefits of removing this material in advance without a feasibility study will offset the risk of potential negative cash flow based on the small investment and the potential return;
• Exploration drilling is also continuing in the South Domes area, where excellent results in 2016 (1.09 grams per tonne over 213.7 metres reported in the company's Aug. 16, 2016, press release and 1.73 grams per tonne over 135.9 metres reported in the company's Oct. 4, 2016, press release) identified larger potential than previously outlined.

About Newcastle Gold

Newcastle Gold has a 100-per-cent interest in the Castle Mountain property in San Bernardino county, California. The Castle Mountain heap-leach gold mine produced over one million ounces of gold from 1992 to 2004. The mine and reclamation plan, under which the mine operated, was authorized by the County of San Bernardino as the lead agency and remains in effect.

Ian R. Cunningham-Dunlop, PEng, the company's senior vice-president, technical services, is the designated qualified person for this news release within the meaning of NI 43-101. He has reviewed and verified that the technical information contained in this release is accurate and has approved of the written disclosure of the same.

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