Colombia Crest Gold Corp. Initiates Drilling at the San Simon Project

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 07/12/11 -- Colombia Crest Gold Corp. ('Colombia Crest'; the 'Company') (TSX VENTURE: CLB)(PINK SHEETS: ECRTF)(FRANKFURT: EAT) is pleased to announce that a 1,500 metre drill program has commenced on its 100% owned San Simon project located in Bolivia. Drilling will be focused primarily on the Paititi target area where 10 to 15 drill holes are planned to confirm and test for extensions of gold mineralization in zones with bulk-tonnage open-pit potential. A smaller drill program is also planned for the Mina Vieja target, located eight kilometres northwest of Paititi.

'While the main focus of our exploration activities is on our Colombian properties, we feel this brief and focused diamond drill program at Paititi and Mina Vieja has the potential to add value to the San Simon Project,' states Hans Rasmussen, President and CEO of Colombia Crest. 'The planned drilling will target areas where surface work and previous drilling have indicated gold mineralization with bulk-tonnage potential. San Simon is a terrific Bolivian property. The current program is intended to provide additional geological information for prospective joint venture partners.'

Through its Bolivian subsidiary, Colombia Crest Gold Corp. holds 100% of the mineral rights covering 52.5 square kilometres at San Simon. The property is located in northeastern Bolivia, about 25 kilometres west of the Brazilian border and 450 kilometres north of the city of Santa Cruz, the main supply and service centre for eastern Bolivia. San Simon has a long history of prospecting and gold mining dating back to the 17th century. Artisanal miners discovered gold in the Paititi area in the early 1990's and as many as 1,500 miners were working in the San Simon district by the mid 1990's. The Company first optioned a portion of the San Simon area in March of 1994.

Paititi - A total of 53 holes were drilled in the Paititi area in 1996, 1999, and 2000. The drilling totaled 5,577 metres and was concentrated near the Paititi pit, which was excavated by informal miners and covers about seven hectares. Some previously published significant drill results include:

--  23.4 metres averaging 1.4 g/t gold in drill hole EEL96-005;
--  32 metres averaging 1.8 g/t gold in EEL96-007;
--  12 metres averaging 6.6 g/t gold in ESS-99-12;
--  4.6 metres averaging 16.3 g/t gold in ESS-99-17;
--  4.5 metres averaging 2.7 g/t gold in ESS-00-31; and
--  1.5 metres averaging 31.2 g/t gold in ESS-00-34.

A 3D geological model of the Paititi drill data prepared by Kilborn Engineering in 2001 indicated potential for a significant, near-surface gold resource. However, Kilborn did not assign average gold grades to the various volumes in the model. In 2009, a revised in-house 3D geological model was created from data from 40 drill holes. It demonstrated that gold mineralization is concentrated in stacked, slightly north-dipping layers or vein packages that occur from the surface to a depth of about 100 metres. The planned new holes are intended to confirm the previous results and demonstrate the potential for a bulk-mineable target. The Company emphasizes that neither the drill results nor the geologic models mentioned above have been verified.

Mina Vieja - The Mina Vieja - Trinidad sector is in the eastern part of this zone and is located about eight kilometres northwest of Paititi. In 1996, the Company drilled 17 holes to test the east-trending Trinidad vein and another eight holes to test sheeted veining and mineralized north-trending structures in the adjacent Mina Vieja area. Although the Trinidad sector was the subject of extensive drilling between 2003 and 2006, no drill holes were located in the Mina Vieja sector during this period. Most recently, the Company's Bolivian exploration team has re-mapped the Mina Vieja area. A few new drill holes are planned to test the near-surface bulk-mineable potential and improve on the results attained from the 1996 drill program.

As announced on December 14, 2010, the Company retained SRK Consulting of Canada to calculate a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Trinidad zone. SRK estimated an Indicated Mineral Resource of 262,300 tonnes grading 5.15 grams per tonne gold using a three (3) gram per tonne gold cut-off. They also calculated an Inferred Mineral Resource of 251,800 tonnes grading 5.46 grams per tonne gold using a three (3) gram per tonne gold cut-off.

Stock Option Grant - The Company also announces that it has granted incentive options for the purchase of a total of 750,000 shares in its capital; all options are exercisable on or before June 13, 2013 at a price of $0.45 per share. Of the options granted, 100,000 options were granted to Robert Spencer and 100,000 options were granted to Financial Strategies, Inc. Both blocks of options will be vested over a one-year period with 25,000 options becoming exercisable every three months. The remaining 550,000 incentive options were granted to the Company's technical consultants working in Colombia and Bolivia. Those options vested immediately.

Any shares issued to 'associated consultants' (as is defined in BC Instrument 45-105) pursuant to the exercise of options held by them will be subject to a four month hold period commencing on the date of the granting of the options. Shares issued to other optionees on the exercise of such options will not be subject to any hold period.

About Colombia Crest Gold Corp.

Colombia Crest Gold Corp. is focused on systematically exploring, developing and monetizing promising new gold projects in Colombia as well as realizing the potential of its 100 percent-owned San Simon project in Bolivia. Industry experts with three decades of gold discoveries lead the management and technical teams at Colombia Crest Gold.

With its strong working capital position, the Company will accelerate the exploration programs at the Fredonia and Venecia projects in Colombia. These projects cover over 17,000 hectares in the Middle Cauca Belt, which is the most prolific gold belt in Colombia with more than 500 years of mining history and several new gold discoveries.

The Company is focused on grass-roots discovery of porphyry-style gold-copper resources, like Tititribi (Sunward Resources), La Cantera (Bellhaven Copper and Gold) and Quebradona (AngloGold-Ashanti), which are all located near the Fredonia and Venecia projects. The Company employs a team of seasoned geologists, each with 20 years of experience exploring and discovering this type of deposit around the world, including Argentina, Mexico, Alaska, Indonesia, and Eastern Europe.

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Richard Jemielita, a technical consultant who is a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

If you would prefer to receive news releases via email please contact Colombia Crest (info@ColombiaCrestGold.com) and specify 'Colombia Crest news' in the subject line.

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.

Contacts:

Colombia Crest Gold Corp.

Hans Rasmussen

President and CEO

604-684-7160
hans@colombiacrestgold.com
www.ColombiaCrestGold.com


Progressive Investor Relations

Benjamin Curry

Direct: 604-689-2881
ben@progressive-ir.com