Banks Island Gold Ltd. Announces Work Program at Red Mountain Property and Deferral of Property Payment

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/27/13 -- Banks Island Gold Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: BOZ) (the "Company") is pleased to report that Seabridge Gold Ltd. (Seabridge) has agreed to amend the option agreement on the Red Mountain Gold Property, dated June 15, 2012 (the "Agreement"), to defer the upcoming $1,500,000 property payment on the Red Mountain Gold Property until January 15th 2014. As consideration for the extension of the property payment the Company will issue Seabridge 250,000 common shares from its treasury at a deemed price of $0.50 per Common Share.

The Company has initiated a work program to advance the Red Mountain Gold Property located near Stewart, British Columbia. The objective of the program is to improve and refine the Company's strategy for the Property as detailed in the "Technical Report & Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Red Mountain Gold Property" dated February 1st 2013. The Company will evaluate production rates, cut-off grades, environmental aspects, mineral processing, and methods of accessing the Red Mountain mineral zones.

An exploration diamond drill program will commence in early June 2013 with the goal to provide definition of higher grade areas of mineralization. The Company will conduct metallurgical and environmental testwork on the drillcore which will be used for detailed plant design and upcoming mine permit applications for the Red Mountain project.

Banks Island Gold has begun compiling the extensive historical environmental baseline studies and plans further environmental fieldwork this summer to complement and complete the historical data. These studies and data will be used as a basis for future mine permitting applications.

The Company plans to conduct detailed engineering to study alternative options for accessing the Red Mountain deposit from the existing Bitter Creek Access Road. The Company will complete aerial surveys, engineering designs, and capital costing to extend this road from the current terminus of the existing 14km access road to the existing mine workings and mineral zones at the Red Mountain Cirque.

Mr. Mossman, President and CEO of the Company stated; "The Company is very excited about the upcoming program at Red Mountain. Our primary focus remains on the Yellow Giant Gold Project this year. However, it is important to continue advancing the Red Mountain project in order to achieve our objective of building Banks Island Gold Ltd. into a premier precious metals producer in British Columbia."

Mr. Benjamin Mossman P.Eng, CEO of Banks Island Gold is the qualified person who reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

The Company is a junior mining resource exploration company focused on exploring for and developing economically viable mineral resources. The Company's mineral properties are located in British Columbia. For more information, please refer to the Company's website at www.banksislandgold.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Benjamin W. Mossman, P.Eng, President, Director, & Chief Executive Officer

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" and include any information that addresses activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including the Company's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance.

Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. These statements, however, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed, implied by or projected in the forward-looking information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: risks related to the exploration and potential development of the Company's project, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of the Company prospectus dated September 30, 2011 filed on SEDAR.

There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date of this document or to revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Banks Island Gold Ltd.

Benjamin W. Mossman

President, Director, & Chief Executive Officer

604-245-0066
www.banksislandgold.com