Auryn Resources and North Country Gold to Jointly Explore the High-Grade Committee Bay Gold Belt

EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Feb. 5, 2015) - North Country Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NCG)(OTCQX:NCGDF) ("North Country") and Auryn Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AUG) ("Auryn"), jointly announce that they have signed a letter of intent (the "LOI") whereby Auryn can earn a 51% interest in North Country's Committee Bay Project in Nunavut, Canada. This mineral project includes 184,481 acres situated along the Committee Bay Greenstone Belt (the "CBGB"). The CBGB occurs approximately 180 km NE of Agnico Eagle Mines' Meadowbank mine and extends more than 300 km northeast.

Shawn Wallace, President and CEO of Auryn stated, "We are very pleased to have successfully formed a working relationship with North Country. The opportunity to leverage the large amount of quality exploration work completed to date in order to exploit the exploration potential of this highly productive, prolific high grade gold district presents an excellent opportunity for value creation that will benefit both companies' shareholders. Entering into this agreement also signifies Auryn's first step at realizing its aspirations of becoming a formidable high grade gold exploration and development company in the Americas."

Brian Budd, President North Country stated, "We are pleased that Auryn shares North Country's enthusiasm for the unequalled investment opportunity offered by our high-grade Committee Bay Gold Project and look forward to creating significant shareholder value together by applying our combined technical and market expertise to advance the Project toward an economic outcome."

Under the terms of the LOI, Auryn shall have the option to spend $6,000,000 over a 30 month period to earn a 51% interest in the Committee Bay Project at which time the parties will share costs pro rata in a customary joint venture. Of this amount, $500,000 is a firm commitment upon signing of a definitive option agreement (the "Definitive Agreement"), which is to supersede the LOI. A technical committee will be formed to jointly plan and oversee exploration programs. Auryn will have ultimate discretion over the nature and manner of exploration undertaken during the earn-in period and will become the Operator of the ensuing joint venture, while North Country will provide staff, equipment and consumables as the Contractor to implement programs. Upon execution of the Definitive Agreement, Auryn will purchase 10 million North Country common shares at price of $0.05 each (the "Auryn Placement") as part of a non-brokered private placement of 20 million common shares to be completed by North Country at a price of $0.05 per share. Completion of these transactions is subject to negotiation of definitive agreements and TSX Venture Exchange approval.

The CBGB comprises one of a number of Archean aged greenstone belts occurring within the larger Western Churchill province of north-eastern Canada. The character and history of rock packages, and the timing and nature of mineralization occurring within the CBGB is considered to be equivalent to that of other significant gold bearing Archean greenstones within the Western Churchill Province, which hosts deposits such as Meadowbank and Meliadine.

High-grade gold occurrences are found throughout the 300 km strike length of the CBGB with the most significant being the Three Bluffs deposit that contains resources as listed in the table below: *(refer to NI43-101 report dated May 18, 2012 filed under North Country's profile at www.sedar.com)

Cautionary Note About Mineral Resources:

Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied.

Numbers may not add-up due to rounding.

Three Bluffs resource estimations were completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Ltd in April of 2012 (see North Country press release dated April 4th, 2012 and the Technical Report on the Three Bluffs Project, Nunavut Territory, Canada filed on Sedar, May 18, 2012).

There are no known legal, political, environmental, or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of the mineral resources.

Three Bluffs deposit remains open for expansion both along strike and at depth and is considered to have excellent exploration upside to significantly increase the resource base within 5km of the currently defined deposit trend. 

Importantly, a high quality pipeline of targets exists within the CBGB that are both drill ready and can quickly be advanced to drill stage. The most advanced of these targets are high-grade occurrences that have been defined through initial diamond drill testing. These include the Inuk, West Plains, and Raven targets that have the following drilling highlights listed in the table below. Collectively, these advanced targets demonstrate the potential to define additional high-grade resources within the CBGB.

* Please see press releases dated ¹September 2^nd, 2003, ²September 5^th, 2007, ³August 25^th, 2005, ⁴October 6^th 2006, and ⁵May 19^th, 2005 filed on Sedar under Niblack Mineral Development Inc.

** True width of intercept unknown

Regional exploration targets will be developed through an integrated geochemical, geophysical, and geological evaluation of the extensive database developed across the CBGB by North Country over the last 20 years. The database has highlighted 115 rock samples grading greater than 5g/t Au that fall across nine broad areas that have not had any follow up first pass drilling within a 200m radius.

About Auryn Resources: Auryn Resources is a junior mining exploration company focused on delivering shareholder value through project acquisition and development. The Company's management team is highly experienced with an impressive track record of success in the discovery, development, financing and monetizing of mining assets for shareholders.

About North Country Gold Corp: North Country Gold's vision is to build the company into a long term junior to mid-tier gold producer through disciplined exploration and development of high quality gold assets in stable safe mining jurisdictions.

The content of this news release and the Company's technical disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Peter Kleespies, M.Sc., P.Geol., who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43‐101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. A detailed description of North Country Gold Corp.'s QA/QC program is provided on the Company's website at www.northcountrygold.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the company 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 market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com