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Drill Results- One of holes has 70 meters!

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HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (July 6, 2016) - Greg Isenor, President and CEO of Merrex Gold Inc., ("Merrex" or the "Company") (TSX Venture: MXI) announces:

Highlights

• 41 holes totaling 6,623 metres completed
• Over 80% of drill holes with significant mineralization
• Hole 644 - 70 metres of 1.55g/t Au

RC Drill Results

During March and April, 2016 the Merrex-IAMGOLD joint venture completed 41 reverse circulation ("RC") drill holes totaling 6,623 metres within the northern extension of the Diakha deposit area of Siribaya gold project in Mali. Holes were drilled in a heel-to-toe pattern with depth ranging from 80 to 204m along drill fences approximately 100 to 150m apart with the objective of testing the gold mineralization in the projected strike extension of the Diakha deposit.

The results of this 'first pass' reconnaissance RC drill program returned significant gold mineralization in 34 of 41 holes and extended the mineralized strike length of the Diakha deposit area by approximately 600m from 800 metres to approximately 1.4 km.

These initial drill results in the northern extension area are comparable with the initial drill results from the 2014 'first pass' drill program in the southern Diakha deposit area. In both cases over 80% of the RC holes drilled returned significant gold mineralization. (see historical news release July 2, 2014) 

See Map 1 for locations of drill holes in the northern Diakha extension area reported here.

See Map 2 for a compilation of selected assay results from the 2014 and 2015 drilling programs in the Diakha southern deposit area.

See Table of Significant Assays for a complete listing of significant assay results. The Table of Significant Assays was provided by the project operator.

Additional Program Updates

Diamond drilling is continuing with two rigs active within the southern Diakha resource area. Air core drilling is continuing on termite mound geochemical targets within a second structural trend to the northeast of the Diakha resource area.

Assays are pending and will be released when available.

Commentary

"We are pleased to report that the drilling program on the newly granted northern extension to the Diakha permit area has returned positive results and confirmed the extension of gold mineralization northward for approximately 600m along strike of the Diakha Deposit" said Merrex president Greg Isenor. "Of particular note hole SRC16-644 located near the centre of the extension area returned 70 metres with an average grade 1.55g/t Au. Additional drilling, both RC and core, will be required to better understand this extension to the Diakha deposit."

Technical Information and Quality Control Notes

The drilling results contained in this release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The sampling of, and assay data from, rock chips is monitored through the implementation of a quality assurance - quality control program designed to follow industry best practice. 

Rock chips from Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling are collected at the rig site, at one meter intervals, under the direct supervision of IAMGOLD geologists. Samples are immediately weighted and later split to retain two samples of 3kg each. An air compressor is used to blow clean the splitter (riffles) between each sample. One sample is retained at the project site for reference purposes and the other is used to prepare 2-meter composite samples. Composite samples are prepared at the project site, by trained technician supervised by IAMGOLD geologists; two (2) consecutives samples of 3 kg are further split and mixed to get two (2) composite samples for each 2 meter interval. One is retained for reference purposes and the other is sent to the assay laboratory for analysis. 

Samples were analyzed at the SGS Minerals Analytical Laboratory in Bamako, Mali, using a standard fire assay with a 50-gram charge and an Atomic Absorption finish.

Gold Intercept Interval - Computation of Composite Interval

Grade composite intervals were computed as follow: the minimum reported interval grade is 0.5g/t, with a cut-off of 0.3 g/t and a maximum interval dilution of 4m. No external dilution is included. Intervals with no samples were set to grade zero but were included in the composite if it occurred within the 4m internal dilution.

About Merrex's Siribaya Gold Project

The Siribaya Gold Project is a 50/50 joint Merrex-IAMGOLD advanced-stage gold exploration project in West Mali which consists of 11 contiguous exploration permits which cover a total area of 876.5 square kilometres and is located in the Kdougou-Kniba inlier of the West African Craton region of western Mali along the borders with Senegal and Guinea. 

The Diakha, Siribaya 1B, and Taya Ko deposits are hosted within highly prospective, Birimian-aged metasedimentary, volcanic and intrusive rocks proximal to the Senegal-Mali Shear Zone. At Diakha, gold mineralization occurs within an albitized sandstone similar to IAMGOLD's Boto gold deposit located approximately 10 kilometres to the north along strike. Zone 1B and Taya Ko occur within the north-northeast trending Siribaya structural trend, which extends over 10 kilometres along strike, and gold mineralization occurs within breccia-hosted stockworks or fault related silicified zones.

During 2014 and 2015 exploration was focussed primarily on the 1.2 km Diakha deposit area which is located along the Fekola-Boto trend in the western-most portion of land package approximately 10 kilometres south along strike of IAMGOLD's Boto gold deposit (scoping and pre-feasibility studies in progress) and approximately 20 kilometres south along strike from B2Gold's Fekola deposit (mine construction commenced).

The 2015 drilling program enabled geological 3D-modeling and completion of an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate. The initial resource (summary resource estimate table found HERE) was released February 9, 2016. The resource estimate was prepared by RPA Inc. and is as at December 31, 2015. Readers are referred to Merrex news release of February 9, 2016 and the complete NI43-101 Technical Report filed on SEDAR January 25, 2016.

The 2016 drill program of approximately 17,500 metres includes 7000m of Diamond Drilling ("DD"), 6500m of Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling, 3000m of Air Core ("AC") drilling and 1000m of Auger drilling. The 2016 drilling program is focusing on deeper DD core drilling to test high-grade (>6 g/t Au targets) near the bottom of the optimized pit shell of the Diakha resource area and a combination of DD and RC drilling to extend the Diakha mineralized zonye within the interpreted northern extension of the Diakha deposit along the 800 metre strike length of newly permitted area. (See also news release May 4, 2016.)