Mr. Paolo Villar reports

ST. AUGUSTINE ANNOUNCES RECEIPT OF MINE PERMIT APPROVAL FOR THE KING-KING PROJECT FROM THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Philippine government has approved the declaration of mining project feasibility for the King-king copper-gold project located in Mindanao, in the Philippines. The permit approval, which was awarded to St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd.'s joint venture partner, Nationwide Development Corp., is the last major permit required to initiate development, construction and operation of the King-king mine.

Through the order, dated Dec. 29, 2015, NADECOR has been authorized to proceed to the development and operating stages of its mineral-production-sharing agreement No. 009-92-XI, which includes the extraction and sale of copper, gold and associated minerals within the 1,548-hectare area. St. Augustine is the exclusive technical services provider of NADECOR.

Receipt of the DMPF is a significant milestone and, coupled with the environmental compliance certificate issued in February, 2015, enables St. Augustine and NADECOR to jointly begin development, construction and operation of the King-king mine per approved plans and strategies.

The DMPF approval was achieved subsequent to the receipt of the ECC. The DMPF approval represents five years of comprehensive technical, environmental, social and community engagement efforts completed by NADECOR, St. Augustine and related advisers.

NADECOR president Conrado Calalang stated, "I am exceptionally proud of this achievement and the diligent efforts made by the project team and the MGB representatives, who reviewed and approved the project designed to international best practice and standards."

St. Augustine Gold and Copper president and chief executive officer Paolo Villar added, "Receipt of the DMPF removes the last significant hurdle to move forward with the development of the King-king project and represents our most significant milestone to date. We look forward to working with NADECOR and all local stakeholders to take King-king to the next stage of development."

With the approval of the DMPF, NADECOR and SAGC will work co-operatively to advance the project to construction followed by operation of the mine. Development of the King-king project is expected to have positive impacts for all project stakeholders and the community at large, and has been designed to minimize any environmental impact.

The King-king copper-gold project

The King-king copper-gold project is located in Compostela Valley in the Philippines and is expected to recover 3.16 billion pounds of copper and 5.43 million ounces of gold over its 25-year mine and process life. According to the preliminary feasibility study that was released on Sept. 18, 2013, and then filed on SEDAR on Nov. 1, 2013, the project has a pretax net present value of $2.0-billion with an internal rate of return of 24.8 per cent. The estimated mineral reserves amount to 617.9 million tonnes at 0.300 per cent total copper and 0.395 gram per tonne gold.

National Instrument 43-101 compliance

James Moore, PE, vice-president, technical, of St. Augustine and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific, technical and economic information contained in this news release.

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