Argus Increases the Hyland Main Zone Gold Deposit Resource Estimate to a NI 43-101 Compliant 361,692 oz Gold and 2,248,948 oz Silver

Jan 19, 2012 7:00:00 AM

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 19, 2012) - Argus Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "Argus") (TSX VENTURE:AML) announces an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the "Main Zone" gold deposit at the Hyland Gold Project, 74 km NE of Watson Lake, Yukon. The Main Zone gold inferred resource, at a 0.6 g/t gold equivalent ("AuEq") cutoff now stands at 12,503,994 tonnes containing 361,692 ounces gold at 0.9 g/t and 2,248,948 ounces silver at 5.59 g/t which represents an increase of 209% over the historic, non NI 43-101 compliant resource. Based on the success of this previous season's Main Zone drilling campaign and the drilling of a new discovery area 4 km away, Argus management is planning for a much larger-scale drill campaign for the 2012 season. Final plans will be announced as soon as financing and budgets are in place. Resource highlights are:

NI 43-101 Main Zone Inferred Resource Estimates at 0.6 g/t AuEq(i) cutoff:

--  361,692 oz gold (12,503,994 tonnes of 0.90 g/t)
--  2,248,948 oz silver (12,503,994 tonnes of 5.59 g/t)

Combined gold & silver, AuEq

--  396,468 oz gold equivalent (12,503,798 tonnes at 0.99 g/t)

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AuEq
Cut-off        Tonnes  Grade      Ozs  Ag g/t     Ag Ozs  AuEq g/t  AuEq Ozs
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0.4 g/t    16,820,094   0.79  425,424    4.84  2,619,911      0.86   465,946
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0.5 g/t    14,734,230   0.84  397,785    5.18  2,453,560      0.92   435,738
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0.6 g/t    12,503,994   0.90  361,692    5.59  2,248,948      0.99   396,468
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0.7 g/t     9,678,679   0.99  307,098    6.39  1,988,733      1.09   337,824
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0.8 g/t     7,038,666   1.10  248,349    7.31  1,654,686      1.21   273,942
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(i) "Gold equivalent" or "AuEq" is based on silver metal content valued at
0.016 gold value using a $1016US Au price and a $15.82US Ag price, which
approximates the average prices for these metals over the last three years.

President Michael Collins comments, "The new resource model not only validates the two year exploration campaign at the Main Zone deposit, but also confirms the potential of a district-scale gold project. The new resource forms a backstop to the new gold discovery at CUZ Zone and the compelling regional results over the greater than 2000 claims that Argus holds in the Hyland District. Using a systematic exploration approach in two limited scale exploration programs, Argus has been able to more than triple the size of the Hyland gold resource, confirm the new CUZ gold discovery and continue to define additional gold mineralization targets through drilling and successful geotechnical ground work."

The Hyland Deposit mineral resource estimate is based on a database of 92 drill holes (13,615 meters) with 8,704 assay values collected through 2011. This includes 72 drill holes (9,662 metres, 2,713 assays) completed from 1988 to 2005, and 20 drill holes (3,953 metres, 5,591 assays) completed in 2010 and 2011 by Argus. The resource estimate is categorized as inferred as defined by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum guidelines for resource reporting. Mineral resources do not demonstrate economic viability, and there is no certainty that these mineral resources will be converted into minable reserves once economic considerations are applied.

Assay values were verified against drill logs and assay certificates. Drill hole collar locations and downhole surveys were checked and verified. The mineral resource was estimated using 1.5-meter composites of the assay values, with zero grade inserted into intervals that were not sampled.

A resource model was constructed of the Hyland gold and silver mineralization. The model was used to constrain 1,332 1.5-metre composite values chosen for interpolation into the ore blocks reported in the mineral resource. A block model was constructed using 5-meter by 10-meter by 5-meter blocks in the x, y and z directions respectively. Grades for gold and silver were interpolated into the blocks by the inverse distance squared method using a minimum of 2 and maximum of 20 composites to generate block grades.

The inferred mineral resource estimate has been prepared in compliance with the standards of NI 43-101 by A. Armitage, Ph.D., P.Geol., of GeoVector Management Inc. GeoVector is an Ottawa, Ontario based consulting firm specializing in resource estimation, project assessment and project management. A.Armitage acted as the qualified person for the resource, as defined in NI 43-101, and is independent of the Company. A NI 43-101 report will be finalized and filed on SEDAR within 45 days of the date of this news release.

Additionally, the Company announces the grant of incentive stock options under the Company's stock option plan to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company to purchase up to an aggregate of 573,000 treasury shares. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.10 per share for a period of five years, and are subject to the policies of the TSX Venture.

Paul D. Gray, P.Geo. is the Company's Qualified Person with respect to the Company's Hyland Gold Project and has reviewed and approved this press release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael Collins, President and CEO