Mr. Paul Dircksen reports

TIMBERLINE RESOURCES ENHANCES MANAGEMENT TEAM WITH NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Timberline Resources Corp. has appointed Kiran Patankar as Timberline's new president and chief executive officer. Mr. Patankar will succeed Paul Dircksen, a founding member of the company's management, who will semi-retire and has been appointed as the company's new vice-president of business development and technical services. The appointments of Mr. Patankar and Mr. Dircksen will be effective on Jan. 1, 2015.

Mr. Patankar has spent the past seven years in the investment banking industry in Canada. From January, 2012 to December, 2014, he served as managing director, investment banking, of Mackie Research Capital Corp. From August, 2007, to December, 2011, Mr. Patankar worked at Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. where he was vice-president, metals and mining investment banking, based in Vancouver and Toronto. Prior to joining Macquarie in 2007, he worked in the mining industry for four years as a geologist and engineer and in the construction materials industry for two years in operational and business development roles. Mr. Patankar holds a BSc in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Timberline's chairman of the board, William M. Sheriff, said: "We welcome the addition of Kiran to our management team at Timberline. His strong financing background will be an essential foundation to advancing our portfolio of precious metals projects located in the Western United States, primarily in Nevada. We appreciate Paul's service as president and CEO, and we look forward to working with him in a different capacity as we work together to position Timberline to take advantage of unique opportunities in this market."

Mr. Patankar added: "These are challenging times for the gold mining industry. New discoveries of economic deposits are becoming more infrequent as exploration budgets have declined along with the gold price; yet exploration provides an opportunity for gold producers to reduce per ounce mining costs and remain profitable throughout the commodity price cycle. In this context, I believe Timberline's Nevada properties are particularly attractive in that they are located along one of the world's most prolific gold trends, are in a favourable geopolitical jurisdiction, and have district-scale potential. Maximizing the value of these assets requires a combination of technical skill and capital markets discipline. I am pleased to join Timberline's executive team at this critical stage and, with the support of our highly experienced board of directors, continue building a Western U.S. focused gold company that creates value for all our stakeholders. I would like to thank Paul Dircksen for his valuable contributions during his tenure as president and CEO and I look forward to his continued involvement with the company."

In connection with Mr. Patankar's appointment, the company plans to make an inducement grant to Mr. Patankar pursuant to a stand-alone award agreement outside the company's amended 2005 equity incentive plan as an inducement material to Mr. Patankar entering into employment with the company in accordance with Section 711(a) of the NYSE MKT company guide. The inducement grant was approved by the company's board of directors. Mr. Patankar's inducement grant consists of (i) a common stock purchase option to purchase 100,000 shares of the company's common stock at an exercise price to be determined by the board of directors based on the closing price of the company's shares of common stock on Dec. 17, 2014, as quoted on the NYSE MKT LLC and (ii) 100,000 shares of common stock of the company. Mr. Patankar's inducement option vests on Jan. 1, 2015, and expires on Dec. 17, 2019.

The issuance of the inducement option and the inducement shares is subject to regulatory approval, including the NYSE MKT LLC and the TSX Venture Exchange. For further details regarding Mr. Patankar's employment and compensation, please see the company's current report on Form 8-K to be filed on Dec. 19, 2014, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also announces that Timberline's board of directors has granted a total of 365,000 stock options to directors and employees. The options were issued at the closing price of the company's common stock as quoted on the NYSE MKT on the date of grant and were granted pursuant to the company's 2005 equity incentive plan, as amended, in order to attract, retain, and motivate employees and directors of the company.

Steven Osterberg, PhD, PG, Timberline's vice-president of exploration, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved disclosure of the technical contents of this news release.

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