Nighthawk Reports 20.35 Metres of 7.94 g/t Gold and 17.75 Metres of 8.16 g/t Gold from Historic Drilling at Kim

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jul 29, 2014) - Nighthawk Gold Corp. ("Nighthawk") (TSX VENTURE:NHK) reports assay results from historic drilling on its Kim gold deposit (Figure 1) located within Nighthawk's Northwest Territories ("NWT") Indin Lake Gold Property and exercises its option to acquire 15 contiguous mining leases and 3 mining claims within its existing land package.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Hole MZ85-24 intersected 20.35 metres of 7.94 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold, including 5.25 metres of 12.23 g/t gold;
  
  
• Hole MZ84-02 intersected 17.75 metres of 8.16 g/t gold;
  
  
• Hole MZ85-66 intersected 28.60 metres of 4.78 g/t gold, including 5.75 metres of 9.53 g/t gold and 9.00 metres of 7.99 g/t gold;
  
  
• Hole MZ84-01 intersected 11.20 metres of 8.37 g/t gold, including 3.70 metres of 16.32 g/t gold;
  
  
• Hole MZ85-68 intersected 25.30 metres of 2.88 g/t gold, including 10.60 metres of 5.30 g/t gold;
  
  
• Hole MZ84-04 intersected 23.85 metres of 3.35 g/t gold, including 4.20 metres of 11.60 g/t gold; and
  
  
• Exercises option to acquire 100% ownership 15 mining leases and 3 mining claims within existing land package, which include the North Inca, Diversified, #3 and Lexindin deposits.
  
  

David Wiley, President and CEO of Nighthawk, commented, "We are pleased with our progress in processing historical drill core at the Kim deposit. All of these holes fall outside our current resource estimate; however, upon completion of our QA/QC program the results will be incorporated in a new resource update. Additionally, the drills continue to turn at our Indin Lake Gold Property and we anticipate releasing the first results of our 2014 drill program in Q3."

Kim Gold Deposit

The Kim and Cass gold deposits were recently acquired (see December 18, 2013 news release) for their near surface mineralization and potential for expansion to depth and along strike. In addition, the abundance of gold showings in the vicinity of the two deposits indicates a potential for new discoveries.

The Kim deposit is connected by road to Nighthawk's Colomac gold deposit located 15 kilometres to the northeast. It is one of several shear hosted gold deposits within mafic volcanic rocks, representing an important underexplored deposit type in the camp. Nighthawk is compiling Echo Bay Mines Ltd. 1984 to 1987 historical drill data in preparation for subsequent activities. Mineralization is characterized by quartz-carbonate veins with minor sulphides within a sequence of northerly striking, steeply dipping, mafic to intermediate volcanic rocks. Drilling traced the mineralization over a strike length of 450 metres (Figure 2). A strong relationship is observed between gold mineralization and the more competent basaltic rocks.

Much of the core that is preserved on-site will be selectively re-logged and resampled. Highlights from 1984 and 1985 drilling (Table 1, 28 holes) define zones of near surface gold mineralization with significant grade and continuity (Figure 3). Intersection widths and shallow depths (majority of intersections lie within 100 metres of surface) are believed conducive to open pit mining methods. Results from the remaining historic holes will be released as they are finalized. These results are historic in nature and Nighthawk has not independently verified the results.

* Lengths are reported as core lengths. True widths are unknown at this time.

To view the figures associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/959692a.pdf.

Option Exercised with Ursa Polaris Developments Corporation

Nighthawk has exercised its option with Ursa Polaris Developments Corporation ("Ursa") to acquire 15 contiguous mining leases and 3 separate mining claims within its Indin Lake Gold Property in the NWT by making the final $250,000 payment as set out in the option agreement with Ursa by the issuance of 438,596 common shares of Nighthawk at a price of $0.57. Nighthawk now owns 100% of these properties, which include the North Inca, Diversified, #3 and Lexindin gold deposits.

Nighthawk Gold Corp.

Nighthawk is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on acquiring and developing gold mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Its primary land position covers 229,791 acres or 930 square kilometres in the Indin Lake Gold Camp and includes an Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 39.815 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.64 g/t gold for 2.101 million ounces gold using a cut-off grade of 0.6 g/t gold.

Nighthawk has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. Samples are transported in security-sealed bags for analyses at ALS Chemex Assay Laboratory in Vancouver, BC ("ALS Chemex"). ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000 certified laboratory. Pulp and metallics assaying for gold is conducted on the entire pulverized sample.

As part of its QA/QC program, Nighthawk inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to the standards, blanks and pulp duplicates inserted by ALS Chemex.

The technical aspects of this press release have been reviewed by Michael Byron, Ph.D., P.Geo., Chief Geologist and Director for Nighthawk, who is the "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 for this project.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the timing of future drilling, the expansion of the mineralization, and the remediation of historic reclamation sites. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Nighthawk, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, risks associated with the uncertainty of exploration results and estimates, currency fluctuations, dependency upon regulatory approvals, the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing and exploration risk. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.