Petition Filed with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

VANCOUVER, Feb. 3, 2014 /CNW/ - Golden Queen Mining Co.  Ltd.  (TSX:GQM; OTCQX:GQMNF) (the "Company") notes that on Friday, January 31^st the Center for Biological Diversity (the "Center") filed an emergency petition (the "Petition") with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") asking the USFWS to list the Mojave Shoulderband snail as a threatened or endangered species.  Citing a report published more than 80 years ago, the Petition claims that the snail exists in only three places on earth, and that most of the snails exist on Soledad Mountain, where the Company is developing its fully-permitted mining operation, known locally as the Soledad Mountain Project (the "Project").

The Project is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), each of which requires written analysis of proposed mining activities and their effect on the physical, biological, social and economic resources of the area.  The environmental setting of the Project and the impact of the Project on the environment was therefore documented in extensive studies prepared between 1990 and 1999 and again between 2006 and 2012.

The Project received three key permits after an extensive approvals process that was concluded in 2012 that allow the Company to construct the facilities and begin mining and processing operations. Further details on the approvals and permits the Company has received for the Project are available in the Company's Form 10-K available on the Company's website at www.goldenqueen.com.

The USFWS has an initial 90-day period to determine if the Petition warrants further action. The Company is currently working with its environmental and legal advisors to prepare a detailed and complete response to the Petition and expects to submit this response to the USFWS in the upcoming weeks.

About Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd:

The Company is developing its wholly-owned gold-silver, open pit, heap leach operation on its fully-permitted Soledad Mountain property, located just outside the town of Mojave in Kern County in southern California. The Soledad Mountain Project will use conventional open pit mining methods and the cyanide heap leach and Merrill-Crowe processes to recover gold and silver from crushed, agglomerated ore.

THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

SOURCE Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd.