Pershing Gold Completes Work Commitment

LAKEWOOD, CO - Pershing Gold Corporation reported that since acquiring a lease agreement with Newmont USA Ltd. in April 2012 for private lands and mining claims adjacent to the Relief Canyon Mine, the Company has spent approximately $1.4 million to drill 23 core holes on private lands and to perform geophysical surveys on private lands and mining claims leased from Newmont. These expenditures fulfill Pershing Gold's 2012 annual work commitment to Newmont. Management believes that this work accomplished two key objectives: 1) to advance the Relief Canyon Mine towards resuming production; and 2) to explore and make new discoveries on Pershing Gold's landholdings surrounding the Mine. In 2012 Pershing Gold has spent a total of $3.3 million, including the $1.4 spent to fulfill the work commitment, on exploration and development to further these objectives.

Drilling has extended the mineralization to the west of the Southwest Pit. Drilling results for the first 12 holes of the Phase II 2012 drilling program were released and results are pending for the remaining 11 holes. This drilling, and a portion of the Company's geophysical surveys, were completed on lands subject to the Area of Interest ("AOI") that were acquired in the transaction closed April 5, 2012 with Victoria Gold Corp. and Newmont. Pershing Gold Management expects this drilling effort to increase the resource at the Relief Canyon Mine.

Because the expenditures incurred for the Phase II 2012 drilling program and geophysical surveys have satisfied and exceeded the 2012 work commitment under the Newmont lease, Pershing Gold has applied the remaining credit amount towards its 2013 work commitment.

"Exceeding our 2012 work commitment has advanced our progress towards completing our 2013 work commitment," said Stephen Alfers, Pershing Gold's Executive Chairman and CEO. "Now that we've satisfied the work commitment, our geologic team plans to pursue compelling targets that we have identified on lands controlled by Pershing Gold outside of the Area of Interest."

Outside of the AOI, Pershing Gold controls a 100% interest in 1,100 acres at the Relief Canyon Mine owned by Pershing Gold's subsidiary Gold Acquisition Corporation, and 13,500 acres of wholly-owned claims in the Pershing Pass area south of the Relief Canyon Mine.

Geophysical surveys identified several areas on these other lands that may contain buried targets that merit drilling. The Company has drilled one such target at the Pershing Packard Project located near Pershing Gold's northern property boundary and the border shared in common with neighboring Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation (CDE) and (CDM.TO). Preliminary examination of the core reveals intervals of mineralized and altered sedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. The Company believes that the alteration and mineralization observed are typical of the styles found in producing mines and known deposits in the Humboldt Range near the Relief Canyon Mine property. Detailed logging of core samples and assay results are pending.