Mr. John Begeman reports

AVION GOLD CORPORATION REPORTS INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCES OF 500,000 OUNCES OF GOLD AND INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES OF 702,000 OUNCES OF GOLD AT ITS KOFI PROJECT, MALI

Avion Gold Corp. has released the results of an updated mineral resource estimate for the Kofi property.

Highlights of Avion's current mineral resources for the Kofi property at a 0.5-gram-per-tonne-gold cut-off are as follows:

• Indicated open pit mineral resources -- 6.9 million tonnes grading 2.25 g/t Au, totalling 500,000 ounces;
• Inferred open pit mineral resources -- 12.4 million tonnes grading 1.77 g/t Au, totalling 702,000 ounces.

John Begeman, president and chief executive officer, commented, "The strong jump in the mineral resource estimates at the Kofi project, coupled with management's expectation that we can further add to these resources, demonstrates Avion's ability to grow organically and showcases Avion as a short- and medium-term growth and value story."

The current mineral resource update is based on approximately 48,705 metres of drilling carried out by Avion and Axmin Inc. from Dec. 5, 2007, to Nov. 18, 2011. During this period, Avion completed 168 holes totalling approximately 25,889 metres in 2010 and 2011, and Axmin completed 484 holes totalling 22,816 metres from late 2007 to 2010. The current Kofi mineral resource estimates are derived from drill testing of eight mineralized zones, of which the Kofi C and Betea zones (South, Central and North) make up the bulk of the mineralization. The current mineral resource estimate represents a 70.6-per-cent increase in the measured and indicated mineral resources from 293,000 ounces of gold to 500,000 ounces of gold and a 90.8-per-cent increase in the inferred mineral resources from 368,000 ounces of gold to 702,000 ounces of gold. Assays were capped at values ranging from 7.5 g/t Au to 50 g/t Au, depending on the zone and individual mineralization wire frame. A technical report, written in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 standards, will be filed under Avion's profile on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release. A summary of the current mineral resource estimate is presented in the accompanying table.

                      MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)                                 

                                   Indicated                        Inferred
                  Tonnes    Grade     Ounces      Tonnes    Grade     Ounces
Zone                      (Au g/t)                        (Au g/t)         

Betea zones    3,029,000     1.74    169,200   7,266,000     1.65    385,700
Kofi C         3,441,000     2.72    300,900   1,947,000     2.06    129,000
A zone            10,000     1.46        500     462,000     1.77     26,300
B zone           339,000     2.17     23,700   1,536,000     1.58     77,800
Blanaid           82,000     2.06      5,400     499,000     2.32     37,200
A linear                                        645,000     2.22     46,000
Total          6,901,000     2.25    499,700  12,355,000     1.77    702,000

(1) Resource estimates based on a gold price of $1,350 (U.S.) per ounce, a  
    90-per-cent process recovery, mining costs of $1.50 (U.S.) per tonne, 
    process costs of $15 (U.S.) per tonne, and general and administrative 
    costs of $4 (U.S.) per tonne were used to determine the 0.5-gram-per-tonne
    open pit cut-off grade.   
(2) Gold grades were estimated in five-by-five-by-five-metre and five-by-five-
    by-10-metre block models from capped 1.5-metre composites using inverse 
    distance cubed interpolation. Composites were capped up to 50 g/t depending 
    on the individual mineralized domain.                              
(3) Eugene Puritch, PEng, and Antoine Yassa, PGeo, from P&E Mining Consultants 
    Inc., qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101 who are independent 
    of the company, are responsible for the mineral resource estimates presented 
    herein.                               
(4) Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated 
    economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially 
    affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, 
    marketing or other relevant issues.                                                            
(5) The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this 
    estimation are uncertain in nature. There has been insufficient exploration 
    to define these inferred mineral resources as indicated or measured mineral
    resources, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in 
    upgrading them to indicated or measured mineral resource categories.                              
(6) The mineral resources in this press release were estimated using the Canadian 
    Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) standards on mineral 
    resources and reserves, definitions and guidelines, prepared by the CIM 
    standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council. 
    The effective date of this mineral resource estimate is Dec. 21, 2011.                    

For reference, an open-pittable sensitivity to the mineral resource at a one-gram-per-tonne-gold cut-off grade was also calculated. A cut-off of one g/t Au is consistent with the Axmin's historic resource estimate for Kofi and Avion previous practice at the Tabakoto mine.

    ONE G/T AU CUT-OFF SENSITIVITY TO THE MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE            

                                   Indicated                        Inferred
                  Tonnes    Grade     Ounces      Tonnes    Grade     Ounces
Zone                      (Au g/t)                        (Au g/t)         

Betea zones    1,925,000     2.32    143,300   4,491,000     2.21    319,000
Kofi C         2,476,000     3.50    278,400   1,254,000     2.78    112,200
A zone             4,000     2.66        300     317,000     2.23     22,700
B zone           224,000     2.90     20,900     988,000     2.03     64,600
Blanaid           55,000     2.68      4,700     392,000     2.74     34,500
A linear                                        482,000     2.69     41,700
Total          4,684,000     2.98    447,600   7,924,000     2.33    594,700

Don Dudek, Avion's senior vice-president, exploration, stated: "The increase in overall ounces was great to see as we continue to move Kofi forward and hopefully toward production. In the short term, Avion will continue to focus on the Kofi C zone area and the northward extension of the Loulo structural corridor onto the Kofi property, where management believes that there is a high likelihood of adding higher-grade gold resources."

The Kofi C zone lies within a north-trending structural corridor that is at least 40 kilometres long by approximately five kilometres wide. This corridor contains at least 19 deposits and zones that have been discovered, 15 of which are on the adjacent Randgold property. A clear break, defined by the airborne geophysical conductivity data, suggests that this trend continues onto the Kofi property for at least 19 kilometres.

The Kofi property is a large, approximately 470-square-kilometre property package situated, at its nearest point, within approximately five kilometres of the northwest of Avion's Tabakoto project. The Kofi property wraps around the north side of Randgold's Loulo mine concessions (historic measured and indicated mineral resources of 62.69 million tonnes grading 4.55 g/t Au).

Don Dudek, PGeo, the senior vice-president, exploration, of the company, and Eugene Puritch, PEng, of P&E Mining Consultants, both qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101, have reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

We seek Safe Harbor.