Columbus Gold Drills 1.59 g/t Gold Over 95.4 Meters at Montagne d'Or Gold Deposit, French Guiana

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - December 16, 2014) - Columbus Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CGT) (OTCQX: CBGDF) ("Columbus Gold") is pleased to announce drill results from an additional 8 holes from its Phase II resource development diamond drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Montagne d'Or gold deposit, Paul Isnard Project, in French Guiana. Assay results have now been released for 81 holes and results are pending for the remaining 45 holes of the program.

"All drill holes continue to return thick gold mineralised intervals within 200 meters from surface.  The latest round of results, from within the east-central section of the principal UFZ zone, continues to demonstrate excellent continuity and consistency of average gold grade," commented Robert F. Giustra, Chairman and CEO of Columbus Gold.

Highlights of the 8 holes reported are tabulated below:

• All 8 holes, except 186, were drilled to better define the east-central section of the principal Upper Felsic Zone ("UFZ").
  
• New drilling has demonstrated excellent lateral and depth continuity and consistency in average gold grade within the east-central section of the UFZ. New intersections include 1.59 g/t gold over 95.4 metres in hole 178.
  
• Hole 184 returned an intersection of 0.76 g/t gold over 64.6 metres, including 10.31 g/t gold over 3.0 metres, within the secondary Lower Favorable Zone ("LFZ").
  
• Hole 185 returned an intersection of 1.58 g/t gold over 31.8 metres within the Footwall zone ("FWZ"). The FWZ, located on the northern fringe of the presently drill-defined mineralisation, remains poorly tested by drilling along the entire strike length of the deposit.

The Phase II drilling program was completed in early November and amounted to 126 holes, for a total of 25,570 meters. Geotechnical and geological core logging and core sawing of all holes have now been finalized, with the last core samples scheduled to arrive at the assay lab the latter part of December. In addition, the results for the first of three phases of the comprehensive metallurgical tests are anticipated to be available in January.

A drill plan is available at the following link:

www.columbusgoldcorp.com/i/nr/2014-12-16-drillplan.pdf

The objectives of the Phase II drill program at the Montagne d'Or Gold Deposit were to:

• Complete a 50-meter spacing array over a strike extent of 2,300 meters to a vertical depth of 200 meters from surface, focused on mineralisation potentially amenable to open pit mining;
• Increase current mineralised tonnage within the deposit;
• Increase confidence in the gold grade-width distribution;
• Convert portions of the Inferred resources to the Indicated and Measured categories in accordance with NI 43-101 standards; and
• Acquire a better distribution of copper assays for added value to the deposit.

The Montagne d'Or gold deposit is presently defined over 2,500-meter by 400-meters and to an average depth of 250 meters from surface. The mineralised zones remain open on strike to the west and at depth. Utilizing a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t gold, the Montagne d'Or deposit hosts an Inferred resource of 140.1 million tonnes grading 1.0 g/t gold for a total of 4.31 million contained ounces of gold. Please refer to Columbus Gold's news release of June 30, 2014 for more information.

An updated resource estimate, combined with concurrent comprehensive metallurgical tests and a preliminary environmental assessment are on target to support the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Montagne d'Or deposit in early 2015. 

The work is being funded by Nord Gold N.V. (LSE: NORD LI) as part of a minimum US$30 million exploration and development program pursuant to which they can earn a 50.01% interest in Montagne d'Or and the Paul Isnard mineral claims, by completing a bankable feasibility study no later than March 2017.

Qualified Person, Technical Info and QA/QC

Diamond drill holes were bored with HQ-size core in the upper oxidized saprolitic zone and NQ-size core in fresh rock. The core was placed in heavy PVC plastic core boxes with covers and delivered by the drilling contractor, Pro Forage Guyane (formerly Performax Drilling Inc.), to the camp Citron logging facilities, located 5 km from Montagne d'Or. Columbus Gold personnel are present at the camp at all times during the drilling program.

The core was photographed for reference, logged (geotechnical and geological) and identified sulphide mineralised sections were sawed in half. Sample lengths vary between 0.5 to 1.5 meters. Individual half core samples were placed and sealed in heavy duty cellophane plastic bags and placed by batch of 9 samples in sealed polypropylene bags for air transport to the Cayenne and trucking to Filab Amsud laboratory in Paramaribo, Suriname, an ISO 9001 and ISO / IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. The remaining half core is stored in core racks on site at camp Citron for reference. Samples were assayed for gold by fire-assay method using an atomic absorption finish on a 50-gram pulp split and ICP-MS multi-element analysis, including copper.

A quality assurance and quality control program (QA/QC) was implemented by Columbus Gold and Filab Amsud to insure the accuracy and reproducibility of the analytical method and results. The QA/QC program includes the insertion of gold and copper standards, blanks and field duplicates in each laboratory assay batch and systematic re-assaying of samples returning values above 5 g/t Au by the fire-assay method using a gravimetric finish on a 50-gram pulp split. As well, 10% of random sample pulps are sent to SGS del Peru S.A.C. laboratory for gold check assaying.

The drilling program is being conducted under the supervision of Rock Lefrançois, P.Geo. (OGQ), Chief Operating Officer for Columbus Gold and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Lefrançois, the Qualified Person, has reviewed this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein, including verification of the data disclosed.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

Robert F. Giustra
Chairman & CEO

Neither the 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.

This release contains forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward-looking statements"), respecting Columbus Gold's: proposed and current drilling programs, shipments of samples; metallurgical tests; completion of new mineral resource estimate; completion of the PEA; projected funding of drilling programs by Nord Gold N.V. pursuant to the terms of the option agreement and the related completion of a bankable feasibility study ("BFS"); and general exploration plans. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: the ability to acquire necessary permits and other authorizations; environmental compliance; cost increases; availability of qualified workers and drill equipment; competition for mining properties; risks associated with exploration projects including, without limitation, the accuracy of interpretations; mineral reserve and resource estimates (including the risk of assumption and methodology errors and ability to complete a new resource estimate by the proposed target date or at all)); the ability to meet proposed schedules for the shipment of samples and completion of metallurgical tests; the ability to complete the PEA by the stated deadline or at all; dependence on third parties for services; non-performance by contractual counterparties; title risks; risks associated with Nord Gold N.V. electing not to exercise its option and make the related option payments and the ability to complete the BFS by the stated deadline or at all; and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about; that the design of the drill plan is appropriate for the site; general business and economic conditions; the timing and receipt of required approvals; availability of financing; power prices; ability to procure equipment and supplies including, without limitation, drill rigs; and ongoing relations with employees, partners, optionees and joint venturers. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and Columbus Gold undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.