Argonaut Gold Announces Positive Initial Drill Results from 2016 Program at Magino

Toronto, Ontario - (December 5, 2016) Argonaut Gold Inc. (TSX: AR) (the “Company”, “Argonaut Gold” or “Argonaut”) is pleased to release assay results for the first 227 reverse-circulation (“RC”) holes of a 350-hole program completed at its 100%-owned Magino project in Ontario.  These results represent 59% of the total 39,447 metres drilled during July to November 2016.  Remaining results will be released once all assay data has been compiled.  The RC drilling program was designed to reclassify reserves from Probable to Proven within the proposed starter pit at Magino.  These drill results, along with the remaining 123 holes and assays, will be incorporated into a feasibility study, which is expected to be completed during the second half of 2017.

Tom Burkhart, Vice President of Exploration stated: “The drill results to date support the current block model and the interpreted geometry of the mineralization.  The work is providing valuable data for the definition of higher-grade gold deposition and confirming continuity of overall mineralization.  The Magino gold deposit contains a series of parallel shear zones hosting low to moderate grade mineralization.  Within these relatively continuous shear zones there exists high-grade gold hosted in quartz veins and lenses of varying magnitudes.  Generally, these are multi-gram occurrences and are significant to the economics of the Magino deposit.  The current definition drilling was mainly designed to convert Probable reserves to Proven reserves within a central starter pit to help drive cash flow and de-risk the first two to three years of production at Magino.”

Pete Dougherty, President and CEO commented: “We liken the Magino deposit to a large river of low-grade mineralization with higher-grade fish swimming within it.  In keeping with this analogy, by tightening the drill spacing to 10 to 12 metres we have been able to define additional high-grade fish.  This continues to strengthen our understanding of the initial starter pit within the deposit, which reduces uncertainty and increases our confidence in the project’s economics.” 

Plan View Map of Key Highlight Hole Locations

 

Table 1 below illustrates key highlight holes from the drill program:

Table 1: Key Highlight Holes

To view a table of all drill results and cross sections, please visit:
http://www.argonautgold.com/gold_operations/drill_results/

Qualified Person Comments / Quality Control Procedures

The preparation of this Press Release was supervised and approved by Thomas Burkhart, Argonaut Gold’s Vice President of Exploration and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.  Mr. Burkhart also reviewed the reverse circulation and on-site sample preparation procedures at Magino.

For sample analysis the Company utilizes a system of Quality Assurance/Quality Control that includes insertion and verification of standards, blanks and duplicates consistent with industry standards.

Samples from the Magino RC drilling program are collected by Argonaut’s geologic personnel every one metre and transported by truck to either Activation Laboratories or Bureau Veritas with analytical facilities in Timmins, Ontario for sample preparation and assaying.  All samples are analyzed for gold using a 50g fire assay charge with an atomic absorption finish.  Samples that exceed 5 g/t Au are further processed using a standard metallic screen analysis designed to identify and analyze for coarse gold. 

Please see below under the heading "cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements" for further details regarding risks facing Argonaut.

For further information on the Magino project please see the report listed below on the Company’s website www.argonautgold.com or on www.sedar.com: