Ms. Nicole Hoeller reports

SABINA GOLD & SILVER UPDATES ON MINISTER OF INDIGENOUS AND NORTHERN AFFAIRS CANADA DECISION ON THE BACK RIVER GOLD PROJECT

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. has provided an update on the timing on a decision by the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

On June 15, 2016, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) recommended to the federal minister of INAC that the Back River project not proceed to the next phase of permitting at this time. INAC has since been reviewing the NIRB report, and the minister has three options:

• Reject the NIRB report/recommendation;
• Accept the NIRB report/recommendation;
• Send the project back to NIRB for reconsideration.

The federal government had originally suggested that its decision would likely be made before the end of Q4 2016; however, it continues to consider the NIRB recommendation carefully.

Since the NIRB recommendation, Sabina has continued to work with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) and various responsible agencies to define additional measures to address the NIRB uncertainties stated in the report. This work includes a two-day workshop on wildlife management and mitigation held in Yellowknife in October and multiple visits to the Kitikmeot communities resulting in an additional 25 meetings with the KIA, hamlet councils, hunters and trappers' organizations, advisory groups, and the public since the last company update.

Sabina continues to receive broad-based Inuit support for the project both at the final hearings in April and since the NIRB report in June. Letters written to the minister on behalf of Sabina and the project have been received from the KIA (the landowner) hamlet councils, hunters and trappers' organizations, community representatives, as well as the government of Nunavut. Additionally, the company has also been working with the KIA to progress the Inuit impact and benefit agreement required for the project.

"We had hoped to receive a decision from INAC before the end of the year," said Bruce McLeod, president and chief executive officer. "We have been working diligently with all appropriate parties in the interim towards this end. However, despite these efforts, it is likely that we will not receive word from the minister's office until early in 2017. Although this is disappointing to our shareholders, we appreciate INAC's careful consideration of the NIRB report. We have continued to work with parties to bolster our plans and remain confident that there are no issues on the project that cannot be addressed. We also appreciate the strong support we have received from Kitikmeot stakeholders and responsible parties -- support that I believe is unprecedented for a mining project in Nunavut."

We seek Safe Harbor.