Mr. Matthew Hornor reports

MAPLE GOLD FINALIZES DRILLING PLANS AND PREPARES TO COMMENCE WINTER DRILLING CAMPAIGN

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. has provided an update on exploration activities and the upcoming winter drilling campaign. The company's eight geologists have now relogged over 18,000 metres from selected higher-grade sections throughout the resource areas, and are preparing for the 25,000-to-30,000-metre drilling program that will start on or about Jan. 15. The updated camp, capable of accommodating up to 75 people, is in place and the first drilling contract has been signed with equipment being mobilized to site.

Maple Gold's technical team continues to evaluate and modify the existing geologic and resource models, incorporating the 2017 drilling (about 23,000 m), new results from previously unassayed drill core in the resource area and applying new knowledge established from all of the database-related work completed during the fourth quarter of 2017. The 25,000 to 30,000 m winter drilling program will build on the 2017 campaign and includes plans for approximately 60 per cent of the metreage for stepout and infill drilling (resource area), with the remaining 40 per cent allocated toward greenfields exploration and new discovery drilling. More specifically, the objectives are:

Greenfields and new discovery drilling:

1. The company will test new discovery targets beyond the known resource area. This drilling will focus on the northeast syenite target (10 holes, see press release dated Nov. 29, 2017), additional syenite targets identified along the Casa Berardi fault zone to the northwest of the current resource area (four holes) and also a number of undrilled or insufficiently drilled electromagnetic conductors to the west of the resource area (nine holes).
2. The company will define new exploration targets in peripheral greenfields areas. This will be accomplished with approximately 100 shallow top-of-bedrock/overburden-type holes for a total of about 3,500 m, mainly in the more remote and unexplored western portion of the property. The most promising new target areas generated from the top-of-bedrock drilling will be drill tested in subsequent drilling campaigns.

Resource area drilling:

1. The company will provide support for its concept of a single unified intrusive-hydrothermal system, and eventually, pit, encompassing all of the existing resource zones, with over 25 stepout holes.
2. The company will test continuity of existing higher-grade zones, including previously mentioned clusters of significant gold accumulations, as well as the possibility of additional higher-grade zones within the current resource area, with over 20 infill holes.

Additional drill program details

Permit requests have been submitted for a total of 114 diamond drill holes (total of about 44,600 m), about 60 per cent of which will be drilled in winter 2018, and 100 top-of-bedrock RC (reverse circulation) drill holes (total about 3,500 m) the majority of which will be drilled in 2018. The additional diamond drill sites provide for flexibility in the current campaign and follow-up drilling in subsequent campaigns. Initial diamond drilling will focus on existing permitted sites in the east quarter of the porphyry zone, where the company has planned at least 10 priority infill and stepout drill holes.

Once additional permits are received, expected later this month or in early February, access and drill site preparation will be completed and overburden drilling will commence. At the same time, the diamond drilling program will be ramped up to the full complement of (five to six) diamond drill rigs.

The property-scale remote spectral geology survey and interpretation will also be completed this month; this report will help focus our summer 2018 surface exploration work in the central part of the property.

Qualified person and resource estimate disclosure

The scientific and technical data contained in this press release were reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, MSc, PGeo, vice-president, exploration, of Maple Gold Mines. Mr. Speidel is a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work.

Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may also be materially affected by other relevant factors or issues. The mineral resource estimate has been prepared without reference to surface rights or the presence of overlying public infrastructure. There has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.

About Maple Gold Mines Ltd.

Maple Gold is a well-financed gold exploration company focused on advancing a district-scale gold project in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The company's 370 square km Douay gold project is located along the Casa Berardi deformation zone within the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt in Northern Quebec, Canada. The project has an established gold resource that remains open in multiple directions, with excellent infrastructure and several large-scale operating mines within 150 kilometres. Maple Gold has a significant drill campaign planned during the 2018 winter season to expand on the known resource areas and test new discovery targets within the company's 55 km of strike along the Casa Berardi deformation zone.

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