Great Northern Gold intersects 131 g/t over 0.3 m in drill program at the Wekusko Gold Property in Northern Manitoba

VANCOUVER, March 13, 2013 - Great Northern Gold Exploration Corporation, ("Great Northern Gold" or the "Company") announced that it has completed the previously announced drilling program on its Wekusko Gold Property in Northern Manitoba, testing gold targets on the one kilometer by three kilometer (1km x 3km) McCafferty Grid (see press release dated January 24, 2013). The McCafferty gold-bearing quartz vein is exposed on the grid in a series of trenches and two shafts over a strike length of 350 meters.

A total of 2,133 meters of drilling was completed between January 3 and February 19, 2013 that tested 20 targets on approximately 5% of the Wekusko Gold Property. To date assays have been received and analyzed for 11 of the 20 drill holes.

The highlights include, a zone of hydrothermal, epigenetic gold mineralization intersected in hole GN-13-11, with visible gold identified at 85.5 meters within a 0.3 meter section that contained 131.1 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au). The mineralization occurs within highly altered Amisk basaltic rocks containing arsenopyrite, carbonate, tourmaline, and axinite, near a contact with a sheared and altered subvolcanic granitic quartz feldspar porphyry (QFP) intrusion. Immediately uphole from this intersection the QFP contained 0.5 meters that assayed 3.73 g/t Au. Both gold occurrences are believed to be related to the same, possibly multi-episodic hydrothermal, epigenetic mineralizing event and confirms the importance of the basalt-QFP contact as a locus for shearing, hydrothermal alteration and gold deposition.

The remaining 10 holes for which assays have been received located numerous sulfide bearing occurrences in drift covered areas but did not contain significant gold. These holes were drilled largely in a mixed granodioritic biotite dacite and subvolcanic intrusive to often tuffaceous, fragmental units, away from the basalt-QFP contact area. The true widths of the mineralization in the first 11 drill holes is not known.

Assays are pending on the last 9 holes of this initial round of drilling and will be reported when received and analyzed.

Previous drilling along this same contact and QFP intrusion extension to the northeast by Black Pearl Minerals ("Black Pearl") in 2006 intersected (see Black Pearl press release dated April 26, 2006):

- 2.45 meters of 4.67 g/t Au, in drill hole BP-06-29, collared 100 meters to the NE of drill hole GN-13-11; and

- 22.9 meters of 0.54 g/t Au, including 0.4 meters of 5.8 g/t Au, in drill hole BP-06-25, 850 meters NE of hole BP-06-29.

Black Pearl traced this contact in limited outcrop another 1800 meters NE of hole BP-06-25, where a previously reported drill hole ROD-97-6 intersected 12.5 meters of 0.56 g/t Au, including 0.5 meters of 8 g/t Au. (Rodera Diamond Corp., 1997) The Company has not yet done sufficient work to verify these historic drill results and does not intend to use the information for purposes other than planning and prioritizing future exploration targets.

"The drilling results support our interpretation that this is a highly prospective area and confirms the importance of the basalt-QFP contact, and shearing within the QFP itself as a focus for hydrothermal alteration and gold deposition," said Kim Oishi, CEO of GGE, "We now have gold mineralization localized along this arm of the QFP intrusion, both at the basalt-QFP contact and within the sheared QFP itself, over a strike length of 2.5 km, starting 2.3 km northeast of the McCafferty gold bearing quartz vein. This drill program combined with the historical work on the Wekusko Gold Property indicates potential for epigenetic mesothermal gold deposits located in shear zones below the glacial till cover.

The core was hand split, to assure maximum sample size and shipped directly to the TSL Lab in Saskatoon SK. from Creighton SK. Canadian Standards were randomly inserted, with repeats of the same standards used throughout the program. Results were returned within the acceptable limits for all Standards, thus confirming the quality of TSL assays. All samples split for analyses were subjected to 40 element ICP-MS, with all samples that returned more than 2 grams of Au from the ICP-MS analyses subjected to 2 assay ton fire assay. All samples with visible gold were subjected to full screen metallic assays. The assaying was done by TSL Labs of Saskatoon, SK.

As set out in the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Report dated May 12, 2012 and filed on SEDAR, the Wekusko Gold Property hosts historic and recent discoveries of moderate to high grade gold mineralization in near surface quartz veins. Prospecting and geochemical work north of the high grade Ferro and Rex Laguna trending belts also indicate potential for Snow Lake Mine (formerly New Britannia Mine) type of larger tonnage, lower grade gold deposits. From 1949 to 2005, the Snow Lake Mine produced 1,428,290 ounces of gold recovered from 12,124,449 tons milled for a recovery grade of 0.117 oz/ton.

Daniel Ziehlke, VP of Exploration for Great Northern Gold, is the Company's Qualified Person under the definition of NI 43-101, and has reviewed this press release for accuracy and compliance with NI 43-101. Information relating to adjacent properties has not been verified by Great Northern Gold and is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Wekusko Gold Property. The Wekusko Gold Property is an early-stage mineral property and does not contain a resource as defined by NI 43-101.


About Great Northern Gold Exploration Corporation

Great Northern Gold is a gold exploration company operating in Northern Canada and has an option to earn a 100% undivided interest in the property known as the Wekusko Property located 23 kilometers southeast of Snow Lake, Manitoba and comprising 55 mineral claims totaling approximately 8,880 hectares. Great Northern Gold has also entered into a Property Option Agreement to earn a 100% undivided interest in the property known as the Ferro Mine Property located 23 kilometers southeast of Snow Lake, Manitoba and east of Wekusko Lake, Manitoba. Please visit www.greatnortherngold.com for more information.


Capitalization:

Number of common shares outstanding: 20,220,867
Number of fully diluted shares outstanding: 24,507,533


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For further information:

Kim Oishi, CEO
Great Northern Gold Exploration Corporation
Toronto : (416) 804 9228
Vancouver : (778) 997 6228
Email: koishi@greatnortherngold.com