Rapid Advancement of Golden Hill Brings Teranga Gold One Step Closer to an Initial Resource in 2018

Ongoing solid results from Ma prospect include 15 metres @ 4.22 g/t gold

Ma prospect is a 2.3 kilometre long mineralized system
comprising multiple mineralized zones within a broad regional structural complex

TORONTO, Nov. 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teranga Gold Corp. ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX:TGZ) is pleased to announce that advanced drilling continues to yield new discoveries and high-grade, near surface and deeper gold mineralization at the Ma prospect on its Golden Hill property in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Teranga has an earn-in agreement on the Golden Hill property with Boss Resources Ltd. (ASX:BOE) pursuant to which Teranga, as the operator, can earn an 80% interest in the joint venture upon delivery of a feasibility study and the payment of AUD2.5 million.

“Golden Hill is shaping up to be a very important component of our growth plan,” stated Richard Young, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With these positive results at Ma together with the recent addition of Jackhammer Hill, as well as, Peksou and Nahiri, we now have four centrally-located, advanced exploration prospects and we are rapidly advancing this project to evaluate the potential scale and grades leading towards an initial resource in 2018.”

Each of Golden Hill’s four prospects are located approximately 5 kilometres from a central point (Figure 1 in Appendix 1), which aligns well with Teranga’s expertise of mining multiple deposits utilizing a centralized plant facility.

Advanced drilling at the Ma prospect, one of four drilled to date at Golden Hill, continues to return excellent grades and widths of gold mineralization near surface and to depth. Recent drilling highlights at Ma include:

• 15 m @ 4.22 g/t Au including 7 m @ 7.89 g/t Au including 2 m @ 17.6 g/t Au (GHDD-067)

• 16 m @ 3.20 g/t Au including 1 m @ 15.7 g/t Au, and 3 m @ 6.14 g/t Au (GHDD-078)

• 6 m @ 5.79 g/t Au and 17 m @ 3.45 g/t Au including 6 m @ 6.32 g/t Au (GHDD-080)

The program has also identified a parallel structure to Ma known as Ma North. This new extension returned good grades and widths from a limited initial step-out drill program, including 3 metres @ 4.42 g/t Au and 7 metres @ 1.75 g/t Au. The Ma area appears to be developing into a broad regional structural complex of mineralized zones.

“The recent results from Ma continue to demonstrate excellent continuity and correlation for both the BZ-1 and BZ-2 mineralized zones along the entire extent along strike drilled to date at the Ma prospect,” stated David Mallo, Vice President, Exploration. “The positive drill results at Ma serve to confirm the along trend and down-dip continuity of grade and width from surface exposure to down-dip depths now approaching 125 metres at this quickly advancing prospect. Our initial step-out drilling at Ma North has successfully intersected similar Ma style alteration, brecciation and mineralization, further expanding the overall Ma target across a broader structural complex.”

Added Mr. Mallo, “We will continue to test the Ma structural complex and the Jackhammer Hill prospect, as well as, our Nahiri and Peksou prospects, through the remainder of the year and into next year.”

The Golden Hill property is comprised of three adjacent exploration permits covering 470 km² located in southwest Burkina Faso in the central part of the Houndé Greenstone Belt. This belt hosts a number of high-grade gold discoveries, including the Siou, Yaramoko and Houndé deposits, the latter property being contiguous with Golden Hill. To the south of Golden Hill is another large land position where active exploration programs are well underway.

Ma and Ma North Prospects

At the Ma prospect, diamond drilling has focused on testing the primary northwest trending Ma structure (BZ-1), a secondary parallel, northwest trending structure (BZ-2) and most recently the Ma North structural zone (Figure 2 in Appendix 1). Gold mineralization at the Ma prospect is hosted by strike-extensive, favourably altered, pyritic, silicified and brecciated shear systems within a sequence of mafic volcanics intruded by at least two distinct phases of granitic intrusive bodies.

The phase three drill program began at the Ma prospect in early August and is ongoing. This drill program is a continuation of the previous drill phases, and is designed to further evaluate the currently outlined strike extent on regularly spaced sections, extend drilling further along trend and continue testing down dip depth extensions below the favourable gold mineralized intervals previously announced from drill phases one and two. To date, a minimum 1,500-metre extent along strike of the primary Ma structure has been intersected successfully by diamond drilling within the overall + 2,300-metre drilled extent that includes both our diamond and reverse circulation drilling (Figure 2 in Appendix 1). The Ma mineralization remains open to further expansion both along trend and to depth at all areas drilled to date; Ma Main (BZ-1, BZ-2), Ma East and Ma North. In addition, within this developing structural complex we recognize other prospective areas displaying similar favorable structural orientation and geochemical anomalism to the south.

Representative sections from the Ma prospect are included (Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 in Appendix 1), which demonstrate the correlation and continuity observed along strike for the mineralized structural zones from surface to minimum vertical drilled depths approaching 70-75 metres that correlates to approximately 125 metres down dip. One of these representative sections, G-G’ (Figure 5 in Appendix 1), includes drill hole GHDD-080 which is one of the deeper holes completed to date at the Ma prospect and demonstrates excellent correlation, grades and widths for both BZ-1 and BZ-2 mineralized zones. A complete listing of the drilling results reported in this news release, is included in Table 1.

A complete listing of assay highlights from all Ma prospect diamond drill holes completed to date are shown in an all-prospect combined results Table 2 in Appendix 1.

Other Activities & Next Steps

In addition to the ongoing drilling at the Ma and Jackhammer Hill prospects, follow-up drilling is also planned for both the Nahiri and Peksou prospects in the fourth quarter. The Company also plans initial field evaluations at a number of other yet undrilled prospects, to include Didro, Intie, Nabere and Nabale prospects. Geologic modeling and initial resource estimation for the most advanced prospects is also being planned for 2018.

Qualified Persons Statements

Teranga's exploration programs in Burkina Faso are managed by Peter Mann, FAusIMM. Mr. Mann is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Mr. Mann has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101. The technical information contained in this news release relating to exploration results are based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Mr. Mann. Mr. Mann has verified and approved the data disclosed in this release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information. The RC and diamond core samples are assayed at the BIGGS Laboratory in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Mr. Mann has consented to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on his compiled information in the form and context in which it appears herein, and approved such disclosure.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

For details on the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied during the execution of the exploration work and results reported on herein please refer to Chapter 11 – Sample Preparation, Analyses and Security of the Technical Report on the Banfora Gold Project, Burkina Faso West Africa dated October 20, 2017 available on the Company’s website at http://www.terangagold.com and SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which reflects management's expectations regarding Teranga's future growth and business prospects (including the timing and development of new deposits and the success of exploration activities) and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as “objective to”, “likely”, “intend to”, “potential”, “belief”, “believe”, “expects”, “estimates”, “plans”, “anticipated”, “ability” and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results “should”, or "will" have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations, future economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Teranga cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments that management believe to be reasonable and relevant but that may prove to be incorrect. These assumptions include, among other things, the ability to obtain any requisite governmental approvals, including renewals of the Golden Hill exploration permits in 2018, the accuracy of sampling, analytical and test data underlying the exploration results included herein, gold price, exchange rates, fuel and energy costs, future economic conditions, and anticipated future estimates of free cash flow. Teranga cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements.

The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including government approvals and permitting, changes in economic conditions, changes in the worldwide price of gold and other key inputs, changes in mine plans and other factors, such as project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of Teranga, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in Teranga's Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2017, and in other filings of Teranga with securities and regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Teranga does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Nothing in this document should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell Teranga securities. All references to Teranga include its subsidiaries unless the context requires otherwise.

About Teranga

Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 5,000 km² of land located on prospective gold belts. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.2 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal, which as of June 30, 2017 had a reserve base of 2.7 million ounces of gold. Focused on diversification and growth, the Company is advancing its Banfora development project and conducting extensive exploration programs in three countries: Burkina Faso, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Teranga has a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to grow its business.

Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. The Company's responsibility report, is available at www.terangagold.com/responsibilityreport and is prepared in accordance with its commitments under the United Nations Global Compact and in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.

Contact Information

APPENDIX 1

Table 2: DDH Highlight Results for All Prospects
(GHDD-001 to 084; GHDD-101 to 116; GHDD-153 to 159)

Figure 1: Golden Hill Property – Prospect Location Plan Map
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/28cf5982-4d3e-4db7-9549-338df76e5340

Figure 2: Ma Prospect – Drill Plan
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/33fcff64-3b94-4af7-9c38-9a3785a3aedb

Figure 3: Ma Prospect – Representative Drill Section (A –A’)
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/948dd88d-c0aa-4415-bc4f-12d49d621be2

Figure 4: Ma Prospect – Representative Drill Section (B-B’)
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0b86246e-21c7-41a6-9f82-bb0e0cb2f633

Figure 5: Ma Prospect – Representative Drill Section (G-G’)
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c150ba95-e350-4b7c-98aa-00c900e152b1

Figure 6: Ma Prospect – Representative Drill Section (C-C’)
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/77fdffd7-9356-490d-b2e5-95a48790c104