Mr. Robert Giustra reports

COLUMBUS ACQUIRES CLAIMS HOSTING A HISTORICAL ESTIMATE OF 272,000 OUNCES OF GOLD RESOURCES CONTIGUOUS WITH ITS EASTSIDE GOLD PROJECT IN NEVADA

Columbus Gold Corp. has acquired the Castle gold project which hosts a historic estimate* of 272,153 ounces of gold resources adjoining the south end of Columbus Gold's Eastside gold project. Columbus recently announced an initial National Instrument 43-101 pit-constrained inferred resource of 721,000 ounces** of gold equivalent at Eastside.

Robert Giustra, chief executive officer, commented: "This acquisition is very strategic. An updated resource estimate will be commissioned so that these good-grade, oxide, near-surface gold ounces can be added to the Eastside project." Mr. Giustra further stated: "This acquisition is also notable for being minimally dilutive; Columbus is only issuing 1.75 million shares, and not paying any cash. Minimizing shareholder dilution is paramount in every decision Columbus Gold management makes."

The Castle gold project covers an area of 9.6 square kilometres and is located 13 km south of the original zone, where substantially all Eastside drilling has occurred to date, and 6.5 km south of target 5 at Eastside where drilling is planned to commence in February. The newly acquired Castle project contains near-surface, historic* oxide gold resources of 272,153 ounces in three different zones as shown in the associated table.

                               Au grade       Au grade    Gold 
                      Tons       (oz/t)          (g/t)    (oz)

Castle zone      9,051,000        0.025           0.86 229,783
Black Rock zone  1,271,415        0.018           0.61  22,726
Berg zone          855,346        0.024           0.82  20,664
Total           11,177,761        0.024           0.82 272,153

The best drill holes from each of the three ore zone on the Castle project include:

Castle ore zone:

• CAS-030 -- 51.8 metres of 1.370 grams per tonne gold from 64.0 to 115.8 m, including 7.6 m of 4.692 g/t gold;
• CAS-031 -- 47.2 m of 1.301 g/t gold from 44.2 to 91.4 m, including three m of 5.377 g/t gold.

Berg zone

• DH2045 -- 16.8 m of 5.41 g/t gold from 13.7 m to 30.5 m;
• CA-087 -- 35.1 m of 1.2 g/t gold from 19.8 m to 54.9 m.

Black Rock zone

• DH 2034 -- 16.8 m of 0.93 g/t gold from 59.4 m to 76.2 m;
• DH 2021 -- 24.4 m of 0.72 g/t gold from 38.1 to 62.5 m.

The Castle historic resource is covered by shallow alluvium, only 10 to 30 metres thick. Columbus believes the potential for increasing gold resources is good. A map indicating the position of the newly acquired Castle claims and resources in relation to Columbus Gold's existing Eastside claim block and targets is available at the company's website.

U.S. Highway 95 traverses the Castle project claim block. The number of historic ounces impacted by the location of the highway will be estimated in an updated technical report. Columbus is aware of a nearby gold deposit called Gemfield located approximately 50 km away up the same U.S. Highway 95. An independent feasibility study completed in 2012 estimated the cost of realigning the highway impacting the Gemfield project at $19-million (U.S.).

Castle project area history

Gold was discovered at the Boss area in the 1940s by a local prospector. Modern exploration began in the 1980s, with a few drill holes by ASARCO and Noranda, followed by an extensive program of mostly shallow drill holes (less than 30 metres deep) by Houston Oil and Minerals. Falcon Exploration acquired the Boss property and started a small open-pit/heap-leach gold mine in 1988. The Boss mine*** reserves were reported at 600,000 tons of 0.06 ounce per ton gold (2.05 g/t gold) and the mine produced approximately 30,000 ounces of gold before it closed in 1990. Heap-leach gold recoveries were reported at 85 to 90 per cent.

Subsequent exploration programs by a Falcon/Homestake joint venture, Westgold/Western Mining, and Mintek Resources discovered two more gold deposits near the Boss (Berg and Black Rock) under shallow gravel cover. Kennecott drilled an additional 65 holes in 1993 finding the Castle gold deposit under shallow alluvial cover. The last two drill programs at Boss were by Cordex and Cameco in 1998 and 1999. Cordex completed 28 drill holes, mostly on the Castle zone.

Transactions terms

Columbus has entered into an option agreement dated Dec. 22, 2016, and amended Jan. 13, 2017, with Seabridge Gold pursuant to which it can acquire 100 per cent of Seabridge's rights and interest in the Castle project lease. Under the terms of the transaction, Columbus will have until Feb. 10, 2017, to complete its due diligence and until Feb. 21, 2017, to close the exercise of its option by issuing 1.75 million common shares, as per 1.5 million shares to Seabridge in consideration for the transfer of the lease, and 250,000 shares to the underlying lessor Platoro West. The annual lease payment to Platoro West is $25,000 (U.S.) per year and the term of the lease is 99 years. Platoro West has also agreed to reduce the existing 3.5-per-cent NSR (net smelter return) royalty to 2 per cent, subject to Columbus Gold's right to buy back 1 per cent for a one-time payment of $2.5-million (U.S.).

Completion of the acquisition of the leasehold interest in and to the Castle project by Columbus is subject to Columbus obtaining the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

About Eastside

The 100-per-cent-owned Eastside gold project consists of 844 claims covering 67.6 square kilometres and is located 32 km (20 miles) from Tonopah, Nev. Eastside has outstanding infrastructure for mining and processing, and metallurgical testing indicates that gold and silver at Eastside are amenable to cyanide leaching, whether oxide or sulphide. Columbus has completed 136 holes on the project and drilling to date has been confined almost exclusively to one target (referred to as the original zone) in an area of only approximately 1,250 by 800 metres, or about one square kilometre, of the large 67.6-square-kilometre land package. Six high-priority geochem targets in addition to the original zone have been defined and drilling is permitted and scheduled to commence at target 5 in February. Columbus recently announced an initial NI 43-101 pit-constrained inferred resource estimate at Eastside within the original zone, consisting of 35.78 million tonnes grading 0.63 gram of gold equivalent per tonne, for a total of 721,000 ounces of gold equivalent. See Dec. 5 and Dec. 7, 2016, news releases and the National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the Eastside project filed on SEDAR on Dec. 7, 2016.

* The historic resource estimate for the Castle gold project was completed by James D. Greybeck, senior geologist for Cordex Exploration Co., in April, 1999, under the direction of Andy B. Wallace, then manager of Cordex Exploration Co. and vice-president of Rayrock Mines Inc.

This report and data used in its preparation were recently reviewed by Mr. Wallace for the purpose of this press release under his obligations a qualified person for Columbus Gold (U.S.) Corp. Drill data used for Greybeck's report were from Cordex Exploration Co., Kennecott Exploration, Houston Oil and Minerals, Falcon Exploration, and Mintek Resources which data are on file in the offices of Cordex Exploration Co. The data are judged relevant and reliable by Mr. Wallace. The resource was termed a geologic resource at the time of Greybeck's report, which was in line with current practice for the time. Greybeck prepared geological cross-sections and calculated the resource by hand, using a polygonal method with a lower cut-off of 0.005 ounce per ton Au (0.17 g/t Au). Where drilling was closely spaced gold values were interpolated between cross-sections using weighted averages projected 50 feet on either side of the cross-section. Columbus plans additional drilling to confirm Greybeck's interpretations and to fill in gaps in the drilling. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.

** Using a cut-off grade of 0.15 gram per tonne gold and a gold/silver ratio of 60:1. For more information, see Dec. 5 and Dec. 7, 2016, news releases and the NI 43-101 technical report for the Eastside property filed on SEDAR on Dec. 7, 2016.

*** The information regarding historical production statistics including but not limited to reports of tonnage, grade, recoveries and ounces produced, was obtained from historical data and is in compliance with NI 43-101 disclosure requirements. Although Columbus has not verified these data, management believes they are from a credible source.

Qualified person

Mr. Wallace is a certified professional geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the qualified person under NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release. Mr. Wallace is the principal of Cordilleran Exploration Co. (Cordex), which is conducting exploration and project generation activities for Columbus Gold on an exclusive basis, and the president of Columbus Gold (Nevada) Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbus Gold that holds Columbus Gold's property interests in the United States.

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