SEMAFO's New Fofina Zone Returns 4.44 g/t Au Over 23 Meters at Mana Discovery of New Fobiri Zone - Exploration Budget Doubled to $18.2 Million

MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwire) -- 08/03/10 -- SEMAFO (TSX: SMF) today announced follow-up drilling results on the Fofina Zone, demonstrating good continuity of the zone with values of up to 4.44 g/t Au (5.57 g/t Au uncut) over 23 meters at Mana in Burkina Faso. In addition, reverse circulation ('RC') and air core ('AC') drilling conducted on Fobiri auger geochem anomalies returned significant drill intersections including 9.76 g/t Au over 3 meters, 5.44 g/t Au over 6 meters and 2.24 g/t Au over 21 meters. Ongoing excellent results on the property have prompted SEMAFO to allocate an additional $9,000,000 to Mana's exploration budget.

The Fofina Zone occurs within a wide deformation zone located at the contact between a sequence of shale with minor volcanoclastic rocks and intermediate to mafic volcanic flows. Two sections located 50 meters southwest and northeast of the original discovery were completed in order to establish the zone's geometry (Figure 1, Figure 2). The strength and width of the deformation zone continues on both sides of the original section. The Fofina Zone extends on both sections returning values such as 4.44 g/t Au (5.57 g/t Au uncut) over 23 meters from hole MRC10-109 and 2.16 g/t Au over 22 meters in hole MRC10-101. The V1 structure associated with the Fofina Zone also returned grades of up to 6.76 g/t Au (7.11 g/t Au uncut) over 4 meters. Structures V2 to V4 remain untested along strike. Section Fofina L1 will also be extended toward the northwest to cross the Fofina Zone.

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DDH No.(iii)  Zone              From        To     Au(i) / Length(ii)
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MRC10-109     Fofina             5.0      28.0    4.44 g/t  /  23.0 m
                                                  (5.57 g/t(i) uncut)
 Including                      16.0      24.0   12.00 g/t  /   8.0 m
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MRC10-109     V1                40.0      44.0    6.76 g/t  /   4.0 m
                                                  (7.11 g/t(i) uncut)
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MRC10-100     Fofina           105.0     110.0    1.57 g/t  /   5.0 m
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MRC10-100     Fofina           116.0     119.0    1.35 g/t  /   3.0 m
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MRC10-100     Fofina           125.0     127.0    2.58 g/t  /   2.0 m
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MRC10-101     Fofina            47.0      69.0    2.16 g/t  /  22.0 m
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 Including                      47.0      54.0    4.94 g/t  /   7.0 m
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MRC10-102     Shallow Vein     132.0     138.0    2.59 g/t  /   6.0 m
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MRC10-103     Shallow Vein      89.0      91.0    3.09 g/t  /   2.0 m
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(i)    All individual samples are cut at 15 g/t in line with procedures
      applied to the Wona Deposit. This conservative approach is
      applied until a statistically representative database is
      collected to establish a specific cutting grade for this area.
(ii)  All lengths are measured along the hole axis; additional
      information is required to determine true widths.
(iii) MRC refers to reverse circulation (RC) drill holes and MAC refers
      to air core drill holes.

Ongoing regional exploration RC and AC drilling elsewhere within the Fobiri-Fofina area (Figure 1, Figure 3) has returned very encouraging results warranting follow-up drilling. To date, five sections have been completed to test the auger drilling anomalies FOB1, FOB2, and FNW1. Two sections merit further investigation, namely the Fofina AC L1 and Fobiri L1. Fofina AC L1, located two kilometers northeast of the original Fofina discovery, tested a narrow but strong auger drilling anomaly, interpreted to be the northeast extension of the FNW1 trend. A corridor of quartz rich zones was crossed, some of which have returned values of up to 5.44 g/t Au over 6 meters and 9.76 g/t Au over 3 meters. Their higher grade, mode of occurrence, and proximity to the Nyafe Pit suggests a similar type of mineralization. Section Fobiri L1 on the Fobiri Block also returned very encouraging intersections. Holes MRC10-112 to 114 crossed a sequence of volcanic flows flanked by volcanoclastics to the northeast and an intermediate intrusive sequence to the SW. The volcanic flows are locally sheared and host significant zones of quartz veining, many of which contain gold values including the Fobiri Zone which coincides directly with the FOB1 auger anomaly. Values of 2.24 g/t Au over 21 meters and 2.11 g/t Au over 4 meters were obtained from this zone. Another parallel zone returned up to 2.33 g/t Au over 5 meters.

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DDH No.(ii)    Zone              From        To         Au / Length(i)
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 Section Fofina
      AC L1
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MAC10-081                        21.0      24.0     9.76 g/t /   3.0 m
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MAC10-082                        24.0      27.0     1.52 g/t /   3.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MAC10-083                        20.0      26.0     5.44 g/t /   6.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Section Fobiri
       L1
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MRC10-111                       141.0     144.0     1.48 g/t /   3.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MRC10-112                        73.0      75.0     1.95 g/t /   2.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MRC10-112                       118.0     123.0     2.33 g/t /   5.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MRC10-112                       128.0     129.0     3.84 g/t /   1.0 m
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MRC10-113                        43.0      51.0     1.86 g/t /   8.0 m
  Including                      46.0      51.0     2.77 g/t /   5.0 m
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MRC10-113      Fobiri           102.0     106.0     2.11 g/t /   4.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MRC10-114      Fobiri            47.0      68.0     2.24 g/t /  21.0 m
  Including                      49.0      57.0     4.04 g/t /   8.0 m
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(i)   All lengths are measured along the hole axis; additional information
     is required to determine true widths.
(ii)  MRC refers to reverse circulation (RC) drill holes and MAC refers to
     aircore drill holes

'The RC/AC drilling program continues to produce new discoveries, many of which coincide with auger anomalies,' said Michel Crevier, SEMAFO's Geology Manager. 'Our systematic approach to exploration on our Mana property is designed to provide not only a preliminary estimation of its potential, but also to rapidly establish new zones that could generate new resources and mineable reserves for the future. Our recent success validates our approach.'

Moving forward, SEMAFO plans to complete a short diamond drilling program on Fofina in order to confirm interpretation and provide valuable structural information. This is deemed paramount for the optimization of the subsequent RC drilling program, designed to explore the extensions laterally and at depth. Follow-up RC drilling is scheduled to commence in August on the Fofina and Fobiri Zone, the V2 to V4 veins previously announced and other new significant gold zones.

Motivated by continuous and outstanding exploration results, SEMAFO announced that Mana's 2010 exploration budget has been increased from $9.2M to $18.2M. The stepped up exploration budget will mainly serve to carry out additional core and RC drilling at Fofina, Fobiri, Y1, BC1, Kona and Wona Deep.

The exploration programs were designed and managed locally by Dofinta Bonde and David Lalonde, Mana Mineral's Exploration Chief Geologists and Richard Roy P Geo, Deputy Geology Manager, and guided and supervised under the direction of Michel Crevier, P.Geo MScA, Geology Manager and SEMAFO's Qualified Person who has reviewed this press release for accuracy and compliance with National Instrument 43-101.

All individual samples represent approximately one-meter in length of rock chips homogenized and riffle-split to an approximately 2-kilogram sub-sample, which is sent for preparation and gold assaying at the ALS Chemex laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Each sample is fire-assayed for gold content on a 50-gram sub-sample at the same ALS Chemex laboratories. In addition to ALS Chemex's own QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) program, an internal quality control and quality assurance program is in place throughout the sampling program, using blind duplicates, blanks and recognized industry standards.

About SEMAFO

SEMAFO is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. The Company currently operates three gold mines in Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea. SEMAFO is committed to evolve in a conscientious manner to become a major player in its geographical area of interest. SEMAFO's strategic focus is to maximize shareholder value by effectively managing its existing assets as well as pursuing organic and strategic growth opportunities in West Africa.

Caution Concerning Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as 'ongoing', 'will', 'extended', 'further', 'investigation', 'future', 'plans', 'scheduled', 'commence', 'evolve', 'become', 'pursuing', 'growth' and other similar words or expressions. Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include the ability of our approach to exploration on our Mana property to rapidly establish new zones that could generate new resources and mineable reserves for the future, the ability of the short diamond drilling program on Fofina to confirm interpretation and provide valuable structural information, the ability to execute on our strategic focus, fluctuation in the price of currencies, gold or operating costs, mining industry risks, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and resources, delays, political and social stability in Africa (including our ability to maintain or renew licenses and permits) and other risks described in SEMAFO's documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in SEMAFO's 2009 Annual MD&A, as updated in the 2010 First Quarter MD&A and other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. These documents are also available on our website at www.semafo.com. SEMAFO disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

Figures 1, 2 & 3 available at the following address : http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/smf0803_maps.pdf

Contacts:

SEMAFO

Benoit La Salle

President & CEO

514-744-4408

Toll-Free: 1 (888) 744-4408
blasalle@semafo.com


Sofia St Laurent

Communications

514-744-4408

Toll-Free: 1 (888) 744-4408
sstlaurent@semafo.com