American Bonanza Gold Corp ABGFF

$6 Million Bought Deal Financing

[statsman1]

September 8, 2011

American Bonanza Announces $6 Million Bought Deal Financing

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 8, 2011) -

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES.

American Bonanza Gold Corp. (TSX:BZA)(OTCQX:ABGFF) ("Bonanza" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with National Bank Financial Inc. (the "Underwriter") under which the Underwriter has agreed to buy from Bonanza, on a bought deal basis, 11,500,000 common shares at an issue price of
.53 per common share for gross proceeds of $6,095,000 (the "Offering").

The Underwriter has been granted an over-allotment option, exercisable at any time prior to 30 days after the closing date of the Offering, to acquire up to an additional 1,725,000 common shares of the Company at the issue price applicable to the Offering. The Company must file a short form prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities to qualify the common shares for distribution.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for exploration and development and general corporate purposes. Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about September 29, 2011. The construction phase at the 100% owned Copperstone gold mine in Arizona is nearing completion, and Bonanza is accelerating the planned transition to owner-mining, and intends to accelerate planned drilling of expansion targets at Copperstone as well as pursue potential acquisitions that would expand its production base.

The Offering is being made in all provinces of Canada other than Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and is subject to the approval of regulatory authorities. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, but may be offered or sold in the United States under applicable private placement exemptions. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Bonanza

Bonanza is re-activating mining at the 100% owned, construction-stage Copperstone gold mine in Arizona. Bonanza has approximately 185 million shares outstanding and is permitted and fully funded through to production, with no debt and no hedges. For more information please visit Bonanza's website at www.americanbonanza.com.

AMERICAN BONANZA GOLD CORP.

Brian Kirwin, President & Chief Executive Officer

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, including the expected completion of the Offering and the timing thereof, and the likelihood of commercial mining are forward-looking statements. Although Bonanza believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the inability of the Company to obtain a receipt for the short form prospectus, changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in the price of gold, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Bonanza and the risks and challenges of its business, investors should review Bonanza's annual filing on Form 20-F with the U. S. Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

American Bonanza Gold Corp.
1-877-688-7523
[e-mail]

[behindblueeyes]

a very surprising move by management to say the least !!!!!!!!eventhough its only 11500000 shares why dilute further at this point at a approx 12% discount just to start drilling a little early???they have the money for Copperstone unless they have a buyout of another company or a property right beside Copperstone in mind and they have no choice other than to act right now or the deal would go

[herry]

blueeyes,WHY WHY WHY would the management of BZA do this deal? lots of money is to come in then we start pouring gold.thanks herry and go bza go 

[luker222]

This post has been removed in accordance with Community Policy

[luker222]

This post has been removed in accordance with Community Policy

[Z06]

What do you guys want. Someone comes to you & wants to give you 6 million dollars for 11000000 shares @ more than the stocks been trading for 5 years. This is a good thing. The mine is weeks away from producing & you still bit*h.

[behindblueeyes]

After doing som quick reaserch this is what i have come up withA bought deal like this is a companies quickest way to access capital within 20 days from deal being anounced.The fees for a deal like this are a little cheaper as well.So I conclude that BZA management needs 6mill in cash very quickly for some reason (??????) personaly I hope its not for dilling unless there are no rigs available in a