GOLD – Sabina Gold & Silver Corp Jan. 23 outlined the objectives of its 2012 exploration program and budget for its Nunavut projects. Logistics planning is well underway with the Goose Camp anticipated to open in early February. Once opened, Goose camp will be provisioned with all supplies for drilling to commence in early March. By the end of March, it is anticipated that eight core drills will be operating at the Back River and Wishbone properties. “2012 will be another pivotal year for us in Nunavut and at the Back River Project” said Sabina President & CEO Rob Pease. “The focus of the program at Back River this year will be to continue to add ounces as well as to advance the project to the development stage. Not only do we have the largest drilling program ever on the project, we have committed a significant budget towards an intensive environmental field program with the objective of completing all necessary baseline work to be well prepared for the environmental assessment phase of the project. Program components are still being finalized and also will be directed by the project preliminary economic assessment, which we anticipate near the end of the first quarter this year.” Sabina ended 2011 with a significant cash position of about C$160 million. In 2012, the North Vancouver-based company plans to spend up to C$74 million on its work programs and corporate expenses. Of that amount, up to C$65 million has been slated for work on the Sabina’s Nunavut projects. The objectives at Back River and Wishbone for 2012 are to continue to expand the known resources at depth and along strike on the Goose claim block; drill test remaining high potential targets on the Goose claim block; drill test high-priority shallow targets at the George claim block identified by the exploration tool box; complete any drilling identified by the PEA to upgrade existing inferred resources as needed to begin a pre-feasibility study later this year; begin evaluation of high-potential targets on the other Back River claim blocks; assess the new resource potential of the Lucky 7 trend on Wishbone; and complete necessary baseline studies needed to support the environmental assessment phase of the project. The Nunavut work program for 2012 is comprised of a 76,000-meter drill program. Camps at Goose and George will be provisioned with additional consumables for up to 100,000 meters to enable aggressive follow-up drilling on positive results. Two new deep diamond drills will be mobilized to Goose to bring the total in the region to eight drills. The budget also includes upgrades to both the George and Goose camps, including new buildings, new equipment and more staff facilities. Sabina’s Back River gold project, acquired in 2009, contains an NI 43-101-compliant indicated resource of 22.3 million metric tons at 5.62 grams per metric ton gold for 4.03 million ounces gold and an additional inferred resource of 10 million metric tons at 6.23 g/t gold for 2.02 million ounces gold. These resources were calculated in 2011 and are made up of the Goose, Umwelt and Llama deposits on the Goose Claim block and the George deposits on the George claim block. Sabina has had significant success increasing the resources at Back River each year through the use of its exploration tool box, which is based on, among other things, interpreting geological and geophysical signatures used to identify areas on the iron formation that have been altered by high-temperature geological events. This set of exploration assumptions has worked well for the team. In 2011 alone, Sabina announced three resource updates due to the discovery of two significant new deposits (Llama and Umwelt) on the Goose claim block. These two deposits remain open and are priority targets for further drilling in 2012.

DIAMONDS – Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. Jan. 23 said it has completed its analysis to determine the most efficient way to advance the 8,580-square-kilometer (3.312 square miles) Chidliak project, located on Baffin Island 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Iqaluit, Nunavut. The review was prompted by the company increasing its interest in the project to 100 percent by acquiring BHP Billiton’s 51 percent ownership stake in a transaction announced Dec. 20. Planned work under the 2012 program will consist of three components: continued execution of bulk sample related activities, continued pre-bulk sample delineation drilling on key kimberlites, and ongoing exploration to discover more diamondiferous kimberlites. “Working with the local communities, we are committed to develop Baffin Island’s first diamond mine as rapidly as possible in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner. The first significant step towards this goal is the initial bulk sampling of key kimberlites to obtain diamond parcels for valuation. Upon receipt of positive valuation results, we would advance the project into pre-feasibility by obtaining larger diamond parcels and by completing initial engineering work. In addition, as there are many geophysical anomalies and a number of unresolved kimberlitic indicator mineral dispersions at Chidliak that need to be fully investigated, we are confident that more kimberlites will be discovered this year,” said Peregrine CEO Eric Friedland. Pending receipt of the land use permit amendments currently going through the Nunavut Impact Review Board screening process, equipment will be mobilized overland to ensure safe and efficient operations during bulk sampling. Upon successful completion of the screening, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and the Nunavut Water Board are expected to issue the amendments this quarter. Work planned for the the second quarter of 2012 include commissioning of reverse circulation drill equipment. A large diameter hole will be drilled to depths of more than 200 meters to verify performance and reliability. This will be followed by mobilization of the drill rig and associated equipment to Iqaluit by sealift. Beginning in early 2013, Peregrine plans to build an ice-based airstrip and transport a bulk sample drill rig and associated equipment to site from Iqaluit by Hercules aircraft; collect bulk samples from key kimberlites and, subject to results, to continue through 2014; and submit bulk samples for laboratory analysis, the results of which are anticipated during the third quarter of 2013. In order to optimize the upcoming bulk sample program, additional core drilling will be conducted this summer on kimberlites CH-1, CH-6, CH-7 and CH-44. The results of the drilling will be used to determine the final design of the bulk sample programs and is an important step to ensure complex, multi-phase kimberlites, such CH-1, are properly understood before bulk sampling commences. Peregrine also said it conduct further exploration this year, including drilling and geophysical surveys, for additional kimberlites that have economic potential. The work will be concentrated in the Southern Focus Area, an area with an 8-kilometer (5 miles) radius that hosts six kimberlites from which significant commercial-size diamonds have been recovered. The presence of unexplained indicator mineral anomalies in and around the Southern Focus Area, in addition to numerous geophysical anomalies project-wide, strongly suggest the presence of kimberlites that have yet to be discovered. All necessary permits to conduct the exploration program portion of the 2012 work are in hand. An update on the Chidliak program, including specific budgeting, will be provided in the first quarter.