Ms. Eira Thomas reports

KAMINAK ANNOUNCES $21 MILLION, 2015 COFFEE PROJECT FEASIBILITY BUDGET; ON TRACK FOR COMPLETION EARLY Q1 2016

Kaminak Gold Corp. has approved a $21-million 2015 feasibility study budget and work plan for Coffee, Kaminak's flagship, development-track gold project located 130 kilometres south of Dawson City, Yukon. A preliminary economic assessment completed in 2014 indicated that Coffee represents a robust, high-margin, rapid-payback, 11-year-life open-pit mining opportunity using a gold price of $1,250 (U.S.)/ounce and a Canadian/U.S. exchange rate of 95 cents, generating a pretax net present value at 5 per cent of $522-million and a pretax internal rate of return of 33 per cent.

Eira Thomas, chief executive officer, commented: "The Coffee feasibility study is more than 50 per cent complete and remains on track for completion in early 2016. As we move forward into the engineering phase of the study, we are pleased to have assembled a strong, diverse team of leading industry professionals led by JDS Energy and Mining. Further, Kaminak is pleased to announce that following the $21-million bought-deal financing announced last month the study is now fully funded."

Kaminak initiated feasibility study work at Coffee in third quarter 2014 and before year-end had completed a $15.5-million work program consisting of infill drilling at Latte, Double Double, Kona and select areas of Supremo, as well as site geotechnical studies and environmental baseline work. Total feasibility study costs, including forecasted expenditures of $21-million for 2015, are now estimated at approximately $36.5-million, up from original estimates of $30-million. The increase in overall costs relates in part to scope changes, but also includes revised estimates based upon finalization of third party consulting contracts. Moreover, these costs include the completion of several trade-off studies that have the potential to enhance overall project economics as reported in the PEA. These studies include:

• An investigation of crushing to a coarser size and possibly placing run-of-mine material directly to the leach pads: The PEA assumed three stages of crushing to one-half inch; however, preliminary results from continuing metallurgical testwork at Coffee indicate that gold recoveries from oxide mineralization may be relatively insensitive to size and could have the potential to support the elimination of one or more stages of crushing in the final mine plan.
• The potential for adding gold from the upper transition zone into the final mine plan: The PEA primarily targeted approximately 2.1 million ounces of oxide gold mineralization, based on available metallurgical testwork from 2013. Subsequent and continuing metallurgical testwork targeting upper transitional mineralization may help to qualify additional ounces for inclusion in the feasibility study.
• An alternate heap-leach pad design and location: The PEA contemplates a 60-million-tonne, valley fill heap-leach facility to be constructed over 22 months at an initial cost of $43-million. Continuing review has identified a second potential heap-leach site that has the potential to both reduce costs and shorten the construction timeline. A detailed site investigation, including geotechnical analysis, will be undertaken before the end of second quarter 2015.

Kaminak further announces that it has awarded the feasibility study contract to JDS Energy and Mining, established northern Canadian mine builders with direct Yukon experience. Additional contributions will be from third party consultants selected in consultation with Kaminak for their expertise in number of key areas such as heap-leach design, geotechnical and geomechanical analysis, as well as hydrology and hydrogeology.

The feasibility study will continue to benefit from the oversight of Fred Lightner, PE, Kaminak's director of mining, and will include contributions from:

• SRK (lead: Michael Levy, MSc, PE, PG) is responsible for geotechnical and geomechanical evaluations, including pit wall stability and waste rock storage facilities;
• The Mines Group (lead: Anthony Crews, BS civil, PE) will be undertaking the heap-leach facility engineering in collaboration with RRD International (lead: Mark Smith, PE, GE, DGE, SE);
• Multidisciplinary environmental baseline team of independent consultants, the majority of which are Yukon-based companies.

The full year budget for 2015 is approximately $30-million with the feasibility study and permitting-related work accounting for close to 70 per cent (approximately $21-million) and 12 per cent (approximately $3.6-million), respectively. The balance of the budget has been allocated to exploration, marketing, and general and administrative expenses. Exploration plans for 2015 remain modest and flexible, and include continued work at Kona North with the aim of defining resources for inclusion in the final feasibility study, as well as a continued evaluation of top-priority exploration targets in the vicinity of the main resource. The Coffee camp is now fully operational for the 2015 season. Drilling at Supremo commenced with four drills currently operating, which are completing infill and condemnation drilling programs. Kaminak is anticipating strong news flow over the next two quarters, including:

• Infill drilling results from Supremo;
• Metallurgical testwork to establish gold recoveries from both coarser crush oxide mineralization and upper transitional mineralization;
• Additional exploration drilling at Kona North, a 2014 discovery which returned 3.55 grams over 28 metres in its discovery drill hole (see press release of Sept. 2, 2014).

Quality assurance/quality control

Kaminak's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Smith, PGeo, vice-president, exploration, of Kaminak Gold, who serves as a qualified person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. Quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks and standards into the drill sample string. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to the ALS Minerals preparatory laboratory in Whitehorse prior to gold fire assay.

We seek Safe Harbor.