Lupaka Gold Appoints Vice President of Exploration

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/14/12 -- Lupaka Gold Corp. ('Lupaka Gold' or 'the Company') (TSX: LPK) is pleased to announce the appointment of Victor A. Jaramillo, M.Sc. (A), P.Geo. as its Vice President of Exploration.

Mr. Jaramillo is a mineral exploration and mining geologist with over 30 years of professional experience. He has worked for a number of major and junior companies in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina. He most recently served as Project Manager in Chile for International PBX Ventures. Mr. Jaramillo's prior positions include Exploration Manager of Berkwood Resources, Exploration Manager of Ross River Minerals, Chief Geologist of Andean American Mining Corp. and positions with St. Joe Minerals, the Madrigal Mining Company in Peru, Newmont Mining Corp in Chile, Gulf International Minerals, Britannia Gold Corporation and Brazilian Goldfields Ltd.

Mr. Jaramillo has been directly involved in several significant mineral discoveries, including the Las Lomas porphyry gold/copper deposit (Peru), the Langosta porphyry gold/copper deposit (Mexico) and the Marta Copper-Moly Porphyry in Chile.

Mr. Jaramillo obtained a Master's degree in Mineral Exploration from McGill University, and a B.Sc. degree in Geology from Washington & Lee University (U.S.A.). Mr. Jaramillo is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

Eric Edwards, President and CEO said, 'We are fortunate to have a person of Victor's calibre and qualifications join the Lupaka Gold team. He brings a wealth of experience in mineral exploration and combined with his enthusiasm and excitement for our 100%-owned Crucero Gold Project, Victor will play a key role in maximizing Lupaka's resources at Crucero and building out our exploration property base in Peru. With Victor's appointment as our VP Exploration and our recent appointment of Mr. Carlos Yrigoyen as our Country Manager, we believe that we now have an exceptional senior management team in place in Peru.'

About the Company

Lupaka Gold is a Vancouver, British Columbia based company that is aggressively exploring and developing the Crucero Gold Project, its 100%-owned 5,500 hectare gold property located in southern Peru. Since commencing active exploration in April 2010, the Company has most recently reported an updated NI 43-101 compliant gold resource in February 2011 (see the Company's most recent technical report on SEDAR at www.sedar.com). In addition to the existing resource, Lupaka Gold has identified several exploration targets within the Crucero Property that display similar anomalous characteristics. Lupaka Gold is led by a strong management team with the proven ability to explore, develop, finance and operate mining projects. The Company completed an initial public offering of its common shares and warrants on the Toronto Stock Exchange on June 28, 2011.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking statements or forward-looking information (together, 'forward-looking statements') for the purposes of applicable securities laws and the U.S. Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to progress in exploration and development of the Crucero mineral property, the prospective mineralization of the Crucero Property and the building out of the Company's exploration property base in Peru. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including that that the Company will be able to obtain the necessary financing, supplies, equipment, personnel, permits and local community approval of drilling plans to conduct its planned exploration and development activities and to build out its exploration property base, that the exchange rates of the U.S., Canadian and Peruvian currencies will be consistent with the Company's expectations, that the Company's current exploration and other objectives concerning the Crucero Property can be achieved and that its exploration and other activities will proceed as expected. However, the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include that actual results of exploration activities will be different than anticipated that the Company may not be able to obtain the financing, supplies, equipment, personnel, permits and local community approval of drilling plans required to pursue its exploration and development objectives and to build out its exploration property base,; currency fluctuations; increased costs as a result of changes in project parameters; failure of equipment to operate as anticipated; accidents, effects of weather and other natural phenomena and other risks of the mineral exploration industry; political risks and risks related to community relations and activities of stakeholders. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by applicable securities legislation.

Contacts:

Lupaka Gold Corp.

Scott Warren

Manager, Investor Relations

+1 (604) 637-8787
www.lupakagold.com