Field Work At African Queen's Ugunja Gold Project In Kenya's Lakeland District Generates Strong Targets; Visible Gold Encountered

Vancouver, British Columbia - African Queen Mines Ltd. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that field work in its Phase 1b Exploration Program at the Ugunja Gold Project has been progressing in a very positive manner, leading to identification of a number of drill targets and revealing the presence of visible gold near surface as well as structure with potential to host commercial deposits. The Ugunja Project encompasses approximately 370 sq. km in the Busia, Siaya and Kakamega areas (aka the Lakeland District) located N of the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. It is situated approximately 100 km to the NW of the Company’s Odundu Project in the Rongo Gold Fields, also on the Lake Victoria greenstone belt, where core drilling is presently underway (see PR dated July 12, 2012).

Work to date at Ugunja has included stream sediment and termite mound sampling, rock sampling, trenching, mapping and ground geophysics surveys. Visible gold has been identified in several samples of a quartz vein located in the Rariada area of the property. The vein, which reaches 80cm in width in places (trench UTr-12-02), occurs along a structure that can be traced for 240metres. The vein consists of refractured smokey and black quartz, with traces of disseminated pyrite and sulphides along the selvages. A section of the trend was worked by the British in the 1930s. One splay structure can be traced for at least 40m and carries two 15-35cm veins. Four trenches totalling 71m are completed on the main structure and a 5m long trench on the splay quartz vein. A total of 99 samples have been collected from this site and are being prepared in Kisumu, Kenya by Kenya Mineral Services Limited and will be shipped to Intertek-Genalysis Laboratory Services in Perth, Australia for gold analysis.

During the current prospecting campaign, approximately 20 gold mining work sites have been located so far, including 6 British colonial workings of varying extent from surface exposure to open cast and shafts. Black quartz similar to that described above is found at several of these sites. Additional trenching is planned on several of these different locations.

The property, covering 370 sq. km of the Ndori/Siaya greenstone belt, is underlain by Kavirondian meta-sediments and Nyanzian meta-volcanics, and is the western extension of the Kakamega gold trend. It has been affected by large regional shear zones which created abundant tension fractures and structures allowing gold-bearing quartz veins to form. Ugunja’s low-grade metasedimentary rocks, chiefly argillites, sandstones and conglomerates, overlie Nyanzian age greenstones which include banded iron formation (BIF) and dominantly metabasaltic lithologies.

The Company has also recently completed 13 sq. km of ground magnetics surveys over the Ligega area and the prospective BIF-style mineralization of the Samias Hills, two areas with gold anomalies identified by the 2011 termite-mound soil sampling survey. The geophysical survey has proved very successful in locating regional and potential gold-bearing structures as well as distinguishing between rock types.

Under the terms of its Earn-In and JV Agreement with Kenya Discovery Limited, the Company, through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited, may earn up to an 85% interest in the Ugunja Project by funding prescribed optional stages from exploration through feasibility. The Company serves as manager and operator of the Project. The Project is being managed on behalf of the Company on site by Senior Exploration Geologist Ms. Marthe Archambault, (P.Geol), who has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release, with general project oversight by Mr. Pete Siegfried (M.Sc., MAusIMM). Both are qualified persons under N.I. 43-101.

According to Irwin Olian, CEO of the Company, “We are delighted that preliminary exploration results from both our Ugunja and Odundu Projects in western Kenya are generating positive results with identification of highly prospective drill targets. Kenya is becoming an increasingly important focus of African Queen’s exploration activities and we look forward to much success in Kenya in the future.”


About African-Queen

The Company is an exploratory resource company with diversified mineral properties in Southern, East and West Africa. It is exploring its properties in Mozambique, Ghana and Kenya for gold and other metals and it is undertaking exploration in Botswana and Namibia for diamonds, gold and other metals. In Mozambique the Company has approximately 230 sq. km. under license for gold and metals under an agreement with another company. In Ghana it has 28.9 sq. km. under license for gold. In Kenya it has approximately 850 sq. km. under license for gold and metals, and a further 737 sq. km. of gold and other minerals licenses under agreements with two other companies. The Company’s operations in Mozambique are carried out through its subsidiary PAM Mocambique Limitada and its operations in Ghana are carried out through its subsidiary AQ Ghana Gold Limited. Its operations in Kenya are being carried out through its operating subsidiary AQ Kenya Gold Limited. Its operations in Botswana are carried out through its operating subsidiary, PAM Botswana (Pty) Ltd.; its operations in Namibia are carried out through its operating subsidiary PAM Minerals Namibia (Pty) Ltd. The Company has its executive offices in Vancouver, Canada. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada on April 30, 2008 and received certain southern African assets in a spin off transaction related to the acquisition of Pan African Mining Corp. by Asia Thai Mining Co., Ltd.


ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AFRICAN QUEEN MINES, LTD.

“Irwin Olian”
Irwin Olian, Chairman & CEO




For more information, contact:

Irwin Olian, President and CEO
tigertail@africanqueenmines.com
www.africanqueenmines.com
Phone: (604) 899-0100
Fax: (604) 899-0200

Carrie Howes, Corporate Communications
carrie@africanqueenmines.com
Phone: Germany +49 (0) 21141 740411
U.K. +44 (0) 870 490 5443
Canada +1 416 900 3634



The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of the information contained herein. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company’s expectations.